Understanding Grassroots Democracy in Rural Areas

Hello, Namaskar, Vanakkam. I hope all of you are doing absolutely great. What we are going to do today in today's video is going to be Grassroots Democracy Part 2. In which we will learn what kind of governance, what kind of grassroots democracy takes place in the rural areas. And in the next part, we will talk about what happens in the urban areas. That is, what kind of governance structure is there, who is the person who is responsible for it, which solve daily needs, requirements, problems, issues in rural areas. Similarly, which agency takes care of problems in the urban areas, in the cities and towns of India. So it's going to be fascinating because you will be able to relate to it very well and I am sure I will be able to make it very interesting for you. So use the hashtag socialsciencesudhir sir for any doubts and you will get all the videos. In any case, I have provided the link of playlist etc. Aapke description box mein daal diya hai. Okay, so everything is there for Mathematics, English, Social Science, Hindi and Science for CBSE class 6. Okay, so let's get started. So let's get started with the chapter itself, Local Government in Rural Areas. I'll keep shifting between the textbook and the few notes kind of thing, presentation slides that I have prepared. to make it interesting for all you students. So, let's move forward. Now, when you say local government in rural areas, what does it mean? It means that in every village, in every village, I'll keep shifting between Hindi and English. Please bear with me. In every village, I'll say it in English, I'll say it in Hindi. Okay, in every village, there is something called a panchayat, which is elected. Okay, panchayat. Panch means five. So usually what happens is that in every village, five representatives of which the main person is the sarpanch. Sarpanch is the head man kind of a thing. You know, Panchka among the five people, he's the senior most. So he's known as the sir of the panch. That is the head of the panchayat. Okay, I hope I'm making it clear. So panchayat is five people who represent the problems. And they conduct the meetings in order to kind of talk about, okay, there is a drinking water problem because the lake near our village has dried up in the summer. So what is it that we need to do in order to solve the problem of drinking water? Some villager may say, let's represent to the government saying that we need to send a tanker to this village, let's say once every two days or once every three days, depending on the population of the village. So that's how the discussion takes place. So... If you see this photograph, not an absolutely correct photograph in terms of numbers. You see the rural banana plantation etc. here. All these people are sitting at a meeting of the village. There are these 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, the main people. There are some more people. So, ideally it should be 5 people who are the panchayat, who are the people elected by these people. They have been elected in an election. They have been elected. They have been elected in an election. The problems of this village. to solve this problem. Did you understand? So, this is local government. What kind of government is there in the village? If there is a problem of water or electricity here, then there is no road. It is not like we will write to Narendra Modi that Modi ji has no road in our village, we will come and build a road. Modi ji has other problems to look after. Russia-Ukraine war, relations with USA, relations with Pakistan, relations with China. and other domestic issues economy etc so sadak in this village is the primary responsibility of the local government in that particular village great let's go now what did mahatma gandhi say about villages he said the real india lives in its villages this was said by mahatma gandhi and you can see mahatma gandhi's photographs inside a village in a village. This is one photograph. This is another photograph where you can see him walking on that narrow strip of land on a field, right? So, you can see Mahatma Gandhi, the fourth person in the picture, walking there. So, he said that real India lives in its villages. Okay, so it's an important quote. The idea behind using this photograph is always to make it a little more interesting. Otherwise, textbooks are generally more boring. Okay, now... Before going to the next, let's go back to the textbook. So now, Let us see how the government functions at the local level. In this chapter, our focus will be on local government in the rural areas. We have already seen the broad picture in the previous chapter. In the previous chapter, we have seen the broad picture. Now, in this chapter, in the 10th chapter, this is the 11th chapter, in this we will see how the government works in the actual ground, in the village. So, India is a country of enormous size and diversity. It's a big country. We have something like 6 lakh villages. 6 lakh villages, which is why Mahatma Gandhi said, the real India lives in its villages. 6 lakh villages in today's date. 8,000 cities, not big cities, small cities, towns. And over 4,000 cities. You should remember these statistics. 6,008,000... and 4000. Our population is this much. Okay, 140 crore, 1.4 billion, almost two-thirds which live in rural areas. Out of this, two-thirds, that is 66% people live in the villages and the rest, about 34% live in the actually it's not 34%, it's about 31% according to the last official census. I will tell you about that too. Okay. How do we govern ourselves in this complex society? So let's take a note. The story is telling. We go to a village called Laxmanpur which is a small village in the foothills of the mighty Himalayas. It has 200 houses and a population of about 700 people, most of whom are farmers. So agriculture is the main occupation in this particular place. So you can see the Himalayas are there, the ice-capped mountains, the Himalayas. You have these houses which are... scattered all over the place. There is this house here, this house here and it is kind of scattered all over the place and you can see cattle etc. Okay. The cows etc. They are all being reared. Okay. So people cultivate their lands and rear cows or goats. Did you understand? Cows, cattle, cattle rearing etc. are done. Some have relatives serving in the armed forces. Some of them are relatives of the army who are serving in the armed forces. A few younger villages have migrated to the city in search of jobs. The younger people have gone to the nearby city or any other faraway city, maybe to Mumbai, maybe to Delhi, in order to work there so that you can make more money. Because in a village, the possibility of making enough money from agriculture is a little less. So people obviously, for those reasons, migrate in search of jobs. What are the needs of these villages? That is, the needs of these villages. what will be the needs of this village and if you don't know the needs of that village then how will you solve the problems of that village? So you need to know the problems of the village in order to be able to solve the issues of the village. Water for the fields, repairing the main road, what I just now told you about, which got damaged by heavy rains or maintaining the school in the village. How will the villagers take decisions about these matters? Where will they get the resources? Resources means where will they get the money? If you want to build two new classrooms for the school, to buy bricks, to buy cement, to buy sand, to whitewash the place, to buy desk, blackboard, everything, you need money. Who is going to give money? The villagers are not going to have so much money that they can spend on the school. And school is a government responsibility if it is a government school. So the government has to come and pay for that, building those two new classrooms. So if that has to be done, these people will have to represent to the local administration of the government, which could be the district collector, to say that our village needs two new classrooms at the primary school. So this is how decisions are made. The panchayat sits in the village, then they discuss with the people of the village. After that, a representation is sent to the district collector who is an IAS officer to say that please allot funds so that two new classrooms can be built for the primary school. What will happen if there is a dispute over land or if some crop is stolen? You suddenly find that you are very close to the hills that a bear or a tiger or a leopard comes and kills the cows in your village or kills the goats in your village. So there is a problem. So what will you do? You will sit, you will discuss and you will represent, you will give a petition, you will call the local forest officers, the local forest department people. You come, you lay a trap so that you can capture the tiger or the leopard or the bear, right? So you can capture the offending animal, the predator and leave it back in the jungle so that our... The problem that we are facing because of this tiger which could become a man-eater also, that is solved. So this is how problems are solved. So the interaction between the government and the village is done through these representatives which are the panchayat. I hope with these examples I am making it abundantly clear to you. Now, so this is why there is something called a panchayati raj system. This is going on since 1950. Panchayat's, although the legislation of Panchayati Raj was in 80s and came in robust form when Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister. So Lakshmanpur people have a system of local government, local means local government called Panchayat which refers to a village council. Panchayats bring governance closer to the people, obviously not going to meet the village the prime minister or the chief minister of that state, you are going to have the sarpanch and his panchayat members solving your problem. My neighbor throws garbage in front of my house every day. He doesn't listen. We have had a fight. People of the panchayat, please solve this problem. So the panchayat will call me, panchayat will call my neighbor and tell him, why are you dropping all your garbage in front of my house? Please don't do that. So it will solve the problem. If that neighbor still... then the panchayat will have the powers to fine them that you cannot do this. So, the responsibility of the panchayat is to solve all the clashes, disputes and disagreements. If you understood, then clap your hands. Now, that is why the panchayat, so it becomes possible for the villages also to... take part in the decision making process. It is a problem which our village is facing that we have a problem where the road is not in good condition. So we need to get the road repaired. So let's all go and ensure that this problem is solved. So you take part in the decision making process of the village in general. So that is called Panchayati Raj which is a form of self-government. Why is it called self-government? Because I, as a member of that village, as a villager, I am a part of the decision-making process of the problems, I mean, concerning the problems of the village. So, I am kind of, you know, it's like self-rule that I am, my voice is also being heard. That if I give such an advice, so that this problem gets solved. Like, for example, I'll give you another example. I'll give you a lot of examples because I've done this for many years in terms of... covering politics. I'll give you an example. For example, in Andhra Pradesh, when Chandra Babu Naidu was Chief Minister of United Andhra Pradesh, now he is still Chief Minister of the new state of Andhra Pradesh, he had a program called Janma Bhumi. What did Janma Bhumi program mean? His thing was, you have come from a village, but then you have moved to the cities, you have done very well for yourself. Maybe you are living in the USA and you are running a company, you are in the... top position of a company, you are an extremely rich person, wouldn't you want to, that is your karma bhoomi, but wouldn't you want to do something for your janma bhoomi, the place, the land, the bhoomi that gave you your janma, yani ki jis bhoomi par aapka janma hua, toh abhi jab aapke paas paisa hai, toh wouldn't you like to do something for your janma bhoomi. So from here the program was named Janma Bhoomi Program. So what happened in that? That person will come down and say that, Oh, this is the village where I was born. I spent my first 12 years, first 15 years in this particular village. I went to this village primary school. This is where I studied till class 10. And then I went to the city in order to study further. And then I subsequently went to the USA and have done well for myself. So I want to do something. for the small children of this particular village. So what can I do? Okay, from my side, the government may not have funds. Let's forget about the government. That was option one, that you go to the district collector and ask for funds. But leave it, no problem. I have enough money, so I will sponsor the construction of a wall around the school. Because that old wall has fallen, I will make a nice gate. And I will sponsor the construction of five new classrooms. Example. So, I will give, so that is come under the Janmabhoomi program that I am giving something back to my village. So, these types of programs also, this. So this is all part of self-government and Panchayati Raj will decide, will tell the person, he may come down and say, what are the problems? Oh, we need classrooms. Or we can say, we need new bore wells to be dug. So bore wells can be dug. It could be like, you know, we are having a problem with the bad road. Bus is not coming. So he will say, oh, there is a problem with the bus. Okay, let me do one thing. I will sponsor. a tempo which can carry let's say 12 people at a time okay between the village and the bus stop in town which is a distance of let's say five kilometers okay so from village to town I arrange a tempo so that you will not face any problem of coming and going. The amount of driver's salary, petrol cost everything will be undertaken by me. This is how problems get solved. This is what Panchayat can do. This is what self-government models are. I'm giving you lots of examples so that you get the clarity and you also feel interested in what we are reading. Panchayats play a vital role in addressing local issues like what I just now explained, promoting development and ensuring that the benefits of government schemes reach the grassroots level. Like for example, government ki kai saari schemes hoti hai. For example, 10 saal ke chote umar ki koi bhi bachi ho. Girl child, you can put... an x amount of money in the local post office okay for which you get a certain higher rate of interest it's called uh sukanya samruddi something it's called okay so below 10 years of age if your child if your girl child is let's say three years of age you can put the money and it will be accrued till class till she reaches age 10 and then the entire amount with interest will be available to her when she turns 18. okay that's one of the schemes so The postal department can come and tell the villagers that we have this scheme. So if anyone wants to put your money in the post office under this scheme, you can do. So these are all government schemes. The benefits of government schemes reach the grassroots level. So that's how government work gets done. Did you understand? Now, this happens at three different levels. Village level, what I just now spoke about, that's where it is called the village parishad or the gram panchayat. Panchayat is the normal word used. The level above that, this is one village. We can say, let's say 20 villages together. I'm just giving a random example. It could be 25 in some states, it could be 30 in some states. That will become what is called a block. Block is also called, in some states, it is also called a mandal. So, it may be called the block panchayat or the panchayat samiti or the mandal parishad. So, like in Telangana, it is called the Mandal Parishad. So different states have different nomenclature. So here you can say Mandal Parishad at the block level. Now, after combining many blocks, it is called at the district level, where the district collector will be the IAS officer in charge of the entire district as the representative of the state government. But there it will be called the Zilla Parishad. As I said, in Telangana, it is called Zilla Parishad. In some states, it can be called the district panchayat. But Zilla Parishad... Mandal Parishad, Gram Panchayat, these are the more common names used in most of the states. Okay, so these are the three levels. So under the district, you will have all the villages which are there in that particular district. For example, there is a district, let's say Nalgonda district in Telangana. So in Nalgonda district, there will be so many villages, they will all be formed part of the Zilla Parishad. So there will be a Zilla Parishad chief. Under the district parishad chief, there will be 10 mandal parishad chiefs. Under the mandal parishad chief, there will be all the villages which will have a sarpanch and a panchayat committee. Okay, so that's how it works. Now, as is clear from the diagram, the panchayati raj system works at three levels from bottom up, the village, the block and the district. This is called a three-tier system. Like in AC, there are three tiers in the train. Lower berth, middle berth, upper berth. So, lower berth is the village. Middle berth is the... mandal or the block and the upper berth is the zilla parishad at the district level i hope it clear hai okay lower middle and upper berth so it's called a three-tier system together these institutions responsibilities cover all the aspects of life in the district from agriculture housing maintenance of roads management of water resources because in the village there are problems like this with education, road, water, agriculture, fertilizers are not available We need to sprinkle fertilizers. Pesticides are not available, right? So those are the kind of issues that people in the village face, largely related to agriculture, irrigation, education, roads, housing, etc. Okay, healthcare. We need a primary healthcare center in our village because the hospital is 20 kilometers away. It becomes very difficult, especially in tribal areas. In tribal areas, Adivasi Hamlet is... It takes a long time to reach the nearby city. So women when they are about to deliver children, they find it very difficult. And social welfare to cultural activities. So all these issues are covered. Is it clear till here? Let's move on. Let's begin with the base of figure 11.1 on page 164. The Gram Panchayat which is closest. The members of the Panchayat are elected directly by the Gram Sabha. So, when the whole village sits, as I showed you in this, the whole sitting is called Gram Sabha. Gram Sabha elects the members of the Panchayat, okay? Which is a group of adults from a village or a group of neighbouring villages, which are enrolled as voters. That is, if you are above 18 years of age, then you can also vote. In the Gram Sabha, women and men discuss all matters related to their area and take... decisions. But the final powers are with the panchayat. If some people are saying this, some are saying that, then finally they decide what to do. We have only Rs. 20,000, so should we do this work or this work? Which one is more important? Which is having more priority and therefore we decide which one we want to do. Each gram panchayat elects a head or president called the sarpanch, which I told you in the beginning. This is the panchayat. Sarpanch or Pradhan in some places like in UP, Pradhan is also called. In South India, there is more of a trend of calling them Sarpanch. In recent years, more and more women have become Sarpanch. In fact, there is 33% reservation. 33% of your Sarpanch have to be women. Okay, so that you get more women. Of course, the flip side is what happens if the male of the family is the political head. What he will do is, wife ko nominate kar dega. Lekin asli kaam pura, power, jo bhi decision hai, it still is controlled by the male person. Which is not the way it should ideally be. So you the idea was to empower more women to take part in decision making. Lekin kai jagao par is tarah ka bhi hor raha hai which is a bit of a negative. Okay. So here you are seeing five people who are the panchayat. Okay. And he is obviously the sarpanch and this is the gram sabha taking place. Okay. Now, we will read about three people who have done some very good work. Now, this particular person is Dyaneshwar Kamble. She is a transgender person who was elected sarpanch of Taranwal village in the Solapur district of Maharashtra in 2017. I remember going to Solapur almost 15 years back. Okay, Kamble's motto is Lokseva, Gramseva and service to the villages, service to the people. So, she does service to the people. She is from Solapur district. So she is one of the sarpanches who has been and she is a transgender. Kamble defeated six other candidates to become the sarpanch. So she came after choosing the proper election. Vandana Bahadur Maida, a member of the Bheel community from the village of Khandvi in Madhya Pradesh, defied patriarchal norms. Defied means that she faced it. Patriarchal means that only men can be elected. She said that she will fight the election. And she defied, means she confronted him, stood against him to become the first female sarpanch of her village. She came by choosing the first female sarpanch of her village. She convinced women in the village to attend the sabha meetings and address critical issues like education and sanitation. That there should be cleanliness and emphasis on education. Earning recognition far and wide, Vandana's journey shows how women can play a leading role in transforming rural India. So there are such inspiring stories too. In many places, this Sarpanch stands up to his wife and controls everything himself. In fact, there is a web series called Panchayat. I think it's on Amazon Prime. In which, the Sarpanch is called Pradhan there. He has been shot in UP. I mean, he is based in UP. Although, shooting was mostly done in Madhya Pradesh. It is based in UP. His wife is the Sarpradhan. he is the one who is called the pradhan and he kind of takes all the decisions. In fact, he sits in the office etc. This is the third person called Hiware Bazar. Hiware Bazar is a village in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. It used to be affected by frequent drought. So this person, Pongkat Rao Baguji Pawar became the sarpanch. He started applying Anna Hazare's movement of harvesting water, rainwater harvesting, watershed conservation. It means that such small check dams should be made. There is one in my village, Palakkad in Kerala. There is this kind of a mini dam. Because it takes a lot of money to construct big dams, there is an environmental cost. But if you can make such check dams, then the water here will not flow and get wasted. No, you can store it here and when needed, you can release it. So that in the months of summer, the village does not face a shortage of water for drinking, for washing clothes, for bathing and water for the cat. So all these needs can be met if you conserve water like this. So that's what he did. Massive tree planting of lakhs of trees because the more trees you have, you'd be able to attract more water. So that is one of the things that you can continuously do. With the collaboration and recharge of groundwater, so that rainwater harvesting goes down. The groundwater level will increase. That will help the overall prosperity of the village. With the collaboration of the villagers, Hakiwari Bazar became a green and prosperous village in a few years. Opatra of Pawar was awarded the Padma Shri in 2020. Just imagine a sarpanch getting the Padma Shri. How great an honour is this? Because he did quality work and positive work for his village. That's what is important. So wherever you are, if your intentions are good, if your intention is good and if you are capable of putting in hard work, you can achieve wonders. That is what the story of Opatrao Pawar shows us. Okay, very inspiring stories. Now, in Gram Panchayat, there is a Panchayat secretary who nominates the government. In the Panchayat web series, you will see that a man comes from the city. who is played by this guy called Jeetendra, who was in the Kota factory with Jeetu Bhaiya, same actor, he plays the panchayat secretary in that web series and he performs administrative functions such as calling meetings, maintaining records. Most gram panchayats are also assisted by an officer called the patwari. Patwari is someone who keeps records of the entire land, you know, how old it is etc. and he maintains the village records in some cases the patwari keeps maps that are generations old he keeps many old maps like for instance in this drawing you are seeing this that map he is the panchayat secretary and these are the other members of the panchayat so how do you think these old maps can be helpful for us can they tell us something about the past and the present now this is a good statistic which you should know It has happened in cities. There has been a lot of crowd because of migration of people from the villages to the cities. So this is a good statistic which you should know from a GK point of view. The projection is that by 2036, that is in the next 12 years, India's towns and cities will be home to 600 million people or 40% of the population up from 31% in 2011. I said that when the last census happened in 2011, 31% was there. Now it is believed that it is around 34%. It is said that in the next 12 years, in the cities of India, in India's cities, you will have a population which is 40% of the total population of India. So the cities will become more crowded and the city's problems will also increase, which we will talk about in the next chapter, which is a fascinating chapter. Now. This is a statistic you should remember. In districts, there are a couple of things, but I have found this from a reliable website of civil services. In some places, it is said that there are 788 districts, but I have heard that there are 806 districts. So we can say approximately 800 districts in India. I am not asking you to remember this in the case of GK. I always feel that GK should also improve. The largest district in India is Kachh, which is in Gujarat, the smallest district is Mahe which is part of Puducherry near North Kerala. Okay, most populated district where there is maximum population is North 24 Parganas. Where is this? In Bengal. And least populated is Dibang Valley. This is in Arunachal Pradesh. So, remember these four things. You know, you can impress in the classroom. I know which is the least populated. I know which is the smallest. I know which is the largest. I know which is the most populated. So, if you know this in GK, it will be better. So, remember some extra things. In your age, you should learn all this. It will always be helpful. So, this is as far as the districts in India is concerned. Next, we come to what? The block or the mandal level. There are over 7,000 block offices in India, which means more than 7,000 administrative blocks. This is the number of block or the mandal offices. Villages, how many are there? 2,50,000. That is 2.5 lakh gram panchayats present in India. So, remember these figures. When you are writing an answer about gram panchayat, if you include this statistic also, it will make your answer look better than that of your classmate. That's what you want also. So this is interesting statistic data which you will find useful. Now the question was asked, why are old maps used? The old maps are useful because they help resolve any disputes that may arise over ownership of land. If Ramlal says this is my land, if Shyamlal says this is my land, then Patwari will sit and say that I have old land records. When your grandfather... he finds that Ramlal's grandfather bought this land. So Shyamlal is forcefully entering there to say that this land is mine. So he will say, Shyamlal you are lying, you are mistaken, the land belongs to Ramlal. So the land records help resolve any disputes that may arise over ownership of land. They also help trace the history of a particular village. What was the history of this village? Who came here first? Where did it start from? Who bought the land first? All those things about the history of the village also it can help establish. And finally it can study alteration in forest cover. This is very important. You know that, oh, 50 years ago when this village was built, then here almost 45% was forest cover. This was a whole jungle. Now see, it is only 10% because we have... We are doing our farming there by cutting the trees of the forest. So the forest cover has shrunk from 45% to 10%. So over a period of time, you know it because you will have land records. Similarly, here there used to be a lake, here there used to be a pond. Now look, it has all dried up and people are doing their farming here. So the water bodies, earlier they were about 30%, now they are down to just 5%. So you are able to know... Because you are able to compare it with old land records. So, if you are asked this question in the exam, so you should write these three points by expanding it. But basically, these three points with these keywords, you must use it. Take a screenshot of it so that you can write it in your notebook. Okay? Okay. Now, let's come to this. Now. Let's now move to child-friendly panchayat system. Now, this is very interesting. Panchayats are supposed to listen to everyone. But what happens? I am not an adult. I am not 18 years old. I am not yet 18. So, I cannot vote. So, how will my voice be heard? So, what many panchayats are doing is to form a Baal Panchayat. Now, Baal Panchayat is not strictly, you know, where, I mean, it's not like allowing people under 18 to vote. But what they do is that the child-friendly panchayat initiative, initiative means the move like that, creates opportunities for children to express their ideas. So you say, what will be the benefit? Just like in your school, you have the house, you have a house captain, then you discuss that, okay, our house will do this on the school annual day. So you are involved in what? You are involved in the decision-making process. Understood? Decision-making. making process. So that is what is the entire idea that they express their ideas and opinions on matters that concern their well-being. That means whatever needs to be done for the well-being of children, their opinion will be asked that they will be able to express their opinion about what concerns their well-being. So steps are being taken in several states to increase the participation of children in Baal Sabhas and Baal Panchayats on a regular basis while village elders try to find solutions to their concern. The children say that, you know... We have made a new classroom but there is no light because there is a big tree on this side. So there is no light here and there is no tube light in our room. So we have to study in a very dark classroom. What is the solution? So the Bal Panchayat discusses this. So what can be the solution? So they think of some solutions and they forward it to the main Panchayat. Now the main Panchayat also sits and discusses and says, Okay, let's do one thing. paint the walls bright white so that there will be natural reflection. Let's also trim some of the branches so that some amount of light comes. If that doesn't work, then we do one thing that on one side, on this side of the wall, we break it a little and make two windows there so that natural light comes from that side. So if you do those kind of things, if you discuss, you'll get different ideas. and you will be able to solve the problem together. Okay? Together is the key point. In Maharashtra, for example, a few Bal Panchayats have worked to eliminate child labour and child marriage. Now, this can also be solved by solving bigger issues. Okay? It can happen that you do this, and this happens in the village. There is a girl in my class, let's say, let's name her Rukmani. Rukmani, last... She was studying till 7th class, not 8th class because even though she is minor, her parents are getting her married. Child marriage which is illegal in India. Despite that, child marriage is there. So, this Bal Panchayat says that we will stop this. So, they go to Rukmani's house and tell the parents that uncle, you should not get Rukmani married. She should continue to come to school because you see all her other classmates are coming to school. And Rukmani also doesn't want to get married. She also says that papa I want to go to school. So you put pressure on that person to say that no you should not get your daughter married so early when she is a minor which is illegal. And if she doesn't agree then the child counsellor can go and complain to the police that this person is doing something illegal. He is getting his minor daughter married. So you see if you involve everybody you can do these kind of things. So you can do child marriage case you can do child labour that. oh he's not sending instead he's sending his son to work in the town in a mechanic shop which is not fair child labor is banned in india you cannot employ children to do any kind of labor be it an industry be it an agriculture like for instance i have done stories about how children girls would be made to pluck cotton from the cotton fields right which is again so they would not go to school Instead, they would be sent to things. So many of them, I have done stories where they would be carrying their school bags, school bags ko side mein rakke, they would be plucking cotton from the cotton field, right? Many families do that because they need that extra income. So the Baal Panchayats have brought many children back to school. The Baal Panchayat members get together to convince parents and other adults to send their wards back to school and not to arrange marriages for children or girls who should be studying, okay? So the panchayat has built compound walls for schools to make them safer for children. Now that could have been one of the demands made by the children, the Baal Panchayat, to ensure that schools get hygienically midday meal scheme. It was started in Tamil Nadu and now it is in the whole country. That means you give food to children under the midday meal scheme, hygienic and nutritious food. So that also becomes an incentive for parents to send their children to school. Parents from poor families. They think that at least one time good nutritious and hygienic food will be available for the children in the government school and they will study there. The Gram Panchayat has constructed kitchens in the schools. It is for these efforts that Sankur Radho Khandu has been declared a child-friendly Gram Panchayat. This is in Sikkim. Let's look at another example. Okay, here is in West Sikkim. Okay, now let's also, I hope I have not missed out anything. Yeah, okay. Let's look at another example from Rajasthan, the Children's Parliament. I mean, it is an offshoot of Bunker Roy. Now, Bunker Roy was a renowned person who started this barefoot college initiative a few decades ago. Now, before we get to that, let's revise a little. So, what can Bal Panchayat do? Campaign against child labour. If you are asked a question and there are a lot of chances of being asked this question, then please pay attention to it. It can campaign against child labour and child marriage. It can work to bring children back to school. I have written points. You will have to expand in all sentences. Okay. Bal Panchayat members can convince parents to send their wards to school. Wards means children. And not to marry off minor daughters. Whatever I have told you with example. Okay. He is Bunker Roy. Okay. This person is Bunker Roy who started this thing of... Barefoot College Initiative. Now, what was done in that? The rural areas of Rajasthan, the rural areas of Rajasthan, through education and democratic participation, he kind of made the children more powerful, that they have their rights. So children between age 8 and 14 were engaged in government processes, learning about democracy. So that, you know, it doesn't, that's why you would learn about civics. What is the problem in our schools? History civics think that this is not important, just study science. No, I teach both science and social science. That's why it is called social science. Because you children should be engaged in the process and thinking process that what is right and what is wrong in India. You should be aware of that and have an opinion. Not that whatever you get on WhatsApp, give it to them. No, what parents tell you, whatever they say is right. No, sometimes parents can be completely wrong when it comes to their political thinking. So you need to think, read a lot, read different kinds of things so that you are more aware of what's happening in the country. So learning about democracy, social responsibility through night schools, adult education. parliament-like elections that Baal Panchayat members also get elected. That three members are there standing for election. So all the children of the village vote in order to elect their Baal Panchayat members. Now it is not the same as Panchayat but in order to make the children feel that they are also part of the decision making process. The parliament followed formal procedures. So that's what Bunker Roy did to empower the children. for our village and our locality we can also do something positive so it made them feel more responsible socially responsible citizens young citizens so the parliament followed formal procedures including voter id card everyone got an id card campaigning that people could campaign for their votes and if they vote for me then i will do this this this this or that Elected representatives form a cabinet, that is, you form a cabinet that you will be in charge of class one, you will be in charge of the water conservation in the village, you would be in charge of cleanliness around the school. So different people taking on different kind of roles and responsibilities. Overseeing school management and advocating for community needs, that is, everybody should be involved. the initiative fostered leadership skills and social awareness that they learn to become leaders enabling children to challenge societal norms that you know you decide that child labor we cannot allow in our village ours should be a child labor free village we cannot allow allow child marriage ours should be a child marriage free village right so you make a point like that and advocate for change children actively address issues such as access to education sanitation so this is a ball panchayat where a child is standing while there are other children both boys and girls sitting and listening and discussing with the student so social equality contributing to community development the children's parliament initiative received many accolades including the world children honorary award in 2001 this is important so children's parliament is an extremely important concept which was initiated by who bunker roy whose photograph I showed you here. Okay. So, now, so this is something which you can do. Now, finally, we come to Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad. Quickly, let's go through that. Panchayat Samiti is at the Mandal block level or the Mandal Parishad and the Zilla Parishad is at the district level. Zilla means in Hindi, it is the word for district. District for students from South India, district is called Zilla in Hindi that's why the word Zilla Parishad so We have already seen the diagram. So the Panchayat Samiti at the block level is the link between the middle birth is the link between the upper birth and the lower birth. Between the village and the Zilla Parishad, the Mandal Parishad in between which is also called Panchayat Samiti. The members of these institutions are elected by the local people. But because in some villages you will have Panchayat elections, so you will have to put three votes. For the Panchayat election, for the Mandal Parishad election and for the Zilla Parishad election. You will vote for these three so that it will depend on your votes. In some cases, it will be the Mandal Parishad members who will elect the Zilla Parishad members. It can vary from state to state. So, the local members of the legislative assembly. Above that is MLA. Above that is MP. So, MP, I hope you have understood the pyramid. MP at the top, MLA, Zilla Parishad, Mandal Parishad. sarpanch panchayat panchayat mandal parishad ya panchayat samiti zila parishad at the district level mla then mp this is the entire pyramid structure okay so the composition of the panchayat samiti is different from state to state as i said but the role in strengthening the participation of local people remains the same that the role is the same but number jisara se elect hote hain wo sab alag alag hota rehta hai their coordinate matters because this is decided by the state government It is not decided by one central government. So, every state government has its own system. Maharashtra's system will be different from Tamil Nadu's system, will be different from Bihar's system. So, this facilitates the allotment of funds for such development projects. So, they decide that this panchayat will be given this much money for the watershed program this year. This panchayat needs the road. So, they will give money for the road. So, every village... The needs can be different. On the basis of that, money will be given. Every district will have different needs. Oh, this particular village is always affected by floods. So let's do some flood management program which is along the coast. But this particular village has a problem of drought. So for this, drought alleviation programs should be initiated. So it depends. So that is done by the state government in deciding, okay, this needs funds for drought, this needs funds for flood relief. This facilitates the allotment of funds for such development projects and for government schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, that is the road building in the villages area. Gram means village, Sadak means road. For people in South India who don't understand Hindi, I am translating it. Pradhan Mantri Prime Minister Village Road Program, which promotes the construction of all weather roads in rural areas. All weather means a road which kind of is... good in good condition irrespective of the weather even in the rainy season at all the three levels special rules have been made so that disadvantaged sections of operation can make their needs and problems heard these institutions also have a provision for reserving one-third of the seats for women okay so every voice will get heard okay so uh why do you think disadvantage so that people who are disabled their needs to be saying people who are elderly they need pensions social welfare pension somebody is there he doesn't have any children or his children have left him he doesn't have any way of earning a livelihood he's 75 years old how do you do it you give something what is called an elderly person pension by the government so that you take care of that particular person's needs so they are the disadvantaged sections of society or somebody who is physically handicapped he cannot go and work so you give a pension so that you take care of him under the social welfare program. So that's why it's important to take care of all sections of society. It's not that our government is only for the rich. No, for the poor and people who are not in a position to take care of themselves. It is the government's responsibility to take care of all those people. Okay, so these questions, questions we will do separately. And let's remember the structure of this thing. Now, it's important that... that the first earth shastra was written by Kautilya who was also known as Chanakya some 2300 years ago. Now many among the many things he said, it describes how a state should be structured and run, how the economy can be made prosperous. So what Chanakya said was that he explains how an entire administrative structure should be put in place from the village to the regional capital. That is, from a village to Mumbai, from a village to the regional capital. Chennai. From the smallest village in Tamil Nadu to the state capital in Chennai, there should be an administrative structure which should be put in place. So what he did was, he said the king shall establish what is called a Sangrahana, a sub-district headquarters for every 10 villages. Karwatika district headquarters, this became Zilla Parishad, this became Mandal Parishad and Dronamukha for every 400 villages and Esthaniye provincial headquarters for every 800 villages. So 800 became state capital, this became Zilla Parishad, Dronamukha, this became Mandal Parishad and this Sangrahana became at the panchayat level. Although it is of one village but sometimes can be a group of small villages. The In one village, only 30 people live. So, it's not feasible. So, you bring together some villages so that the population is at least 400-500 people so that it becomes a bigger panchayat. So, that can be also the case. So, this is panchayat Karvatika. This can be asked to you in the MCQ format. This will be the equivalent of the Mandal Parishad or the panchayat samiti. This will be of the Zilla Parishad and this is the state capital. In today's village, that's what interesting. So, now... These are the summary notes of this particular chapter. I hope you understood it completely. The three-tier system, the Bal Panchayats and the Mandal Parishad or the Panchayat Samiti or the Zilla Parishad level also. So with this, we have come to the end of this very important chapter about local government in the rural area. So please share the videos with your classmates because sharing is ultimately caring. You do good, they will also share something with you which will help you in return. And also don't forget to subscribe. I find it very surprising that very few Class 6 students are subscribing even though so many of you are using the content. So the videos are seeing the views but their subscriptions are not increasing. It's free of cost. There is no money to be charged or anything for you to press the subscribe button and press the bell icon so that you get the notification whenever a new video is published. And after this, I will be doing all the questions and answers in separate videos so that everything is thrashed out. you are completely 100% ready for the exam. Okay, so bye bye. Thank you very much. I will now see you in the next video, which will be on local government in the urban areas. Okay, bye.

And in the next part, we will talk about what happens in the urban areas. That is, what kind of governance structure is there, who is the person who is responsible for it, which solve daily needs, requirements, problems, issues in rural areas. Similarly, which agency takes care of problems in the urban areas, in the cities and towns of India.

So it's going to be fascinating because you will be able to relate to it very well and I am sure I will be able to make it very interesting for you. So use the hashtag socialsciencesudhir sir for any doubts and you will get all the videos. In any case, I have provided the link of playlist etc. Aapke description box mein daal diya hai.

Okay, so everything is there for Mathematics, English, Social Science, Hindi and Science for CBSE class 6. Okay, so let's get started. So let's get started with the chapter itself, Local Government in Rural Areas. I'll keep shifting between the textbook and the few notes kind of thing, presentation slides that I have prepared.

to make it interesting for all you students. So, let's move forward. Now, when you say local government in rural areas, what does it mean? It means that in every village, in every village, I'll keep shifting between Hindi and English.

Please bear with me. In every village, I'll say it in English, I'll say it in Hindi. Okay, in every village, there is something called a panchayat, which is elected.

Okay, panchayat. Panch means five. So usually what happens is that in every village, five representatives of which the main person is the sarpanch. Sarpanch is the head man kind of a thing. You know, Panchka among the five people, he's the senior most.

So he's known as the sir of the panch. That is the head of the panchayat. Okay, I hope I'm making it clear.

So panchayat is five people who represent the problems. And they conduct the meetings in order to kind of talk about, okay, there is a drinking water problem because the lake near our village has dried up in the summer. So what is it that we need to do in order to solve the problem of drinking water?

Some villager may say, let's represent to the government saying that we need to send a tanker to this village, let's say once every two days or once every three days, depending on the population of the village. So that's how the discussion takes place. So...

If you see this photograph, not an absolutely correct photograph in terms of numbers. You see the rural banana plantation etc. here. All these people are sitting at a meeting of the village. There are these 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, the main people.

There are some more people. So, ideally it should be 5 people who are the panchayat, who are the people elected by these people. They have been elected in an election. They have been elected. They have been elected in an election.

The problems of this village. to solve this problem. Did you understand?

So, this is local government. What kind of government is there in the village? If there is a problem of water or electricity here, then there is no road.

It is not like we will write to Narendra Modi that Modi ji has no road in our village, we will come and build a road. Modi ji has other problems to look after. Russia-Ukraine war, relations with USA, relations with Pakistan, relations with China.

and other domestic issues economy etc so sadak in this village is the primary responsibility of the local government in that particular village great let's go now what did mahatma gandhi say about villages he said the real india lives in its villages this was said by mahatma gandhi and you can see mahatma gandhi's photographs inside a village in a village. This is one photograph. This is another photograph where you can see him walking on that narrow strip of land on a field, right?

So, you can see Mahatma Gandhi, the fourth person in the picture, walking there. So, he said that real India lives in its villages. Okay, so it's an important quote.

The idea behind using this photograph is always to make it a little more interesting. Otherwise, textbooks are generally more boring. Okay, now...

Before going to the next, let's go back to the textbook. So now, Let us see how the government functions at the local level. In this chapter, our focus will be on local government in the rural areas. We have already seen the broad picture in the previous chapter.

In the previous chapter, we have seen the broad picture. Now, in this chapter, in the 10th chapter, this is the 11th chapter, in this we will see how the government works in the actual ground, in the village. So, India is a country of enormous size and diversity.

It's a big country. We have something like 6 lakh villages. 6 lakh villages, which is why Mahatma Gandhi said, the real India lives in its villages. 6 lakh villages in today's date.

8,000 cities, not big cities, small cities, towns. And over 4,000 cities. You should remember these statistics. 6,008,000... and 4000. Our population is this much.

Okay, 140 crore, 1.4 billion, almost two-thirds which live in rural areas. Out of this, two-thirds, that is 66% people live in the villages and the rest, about 34% live in the actually it's not 34%, it's about 31% according to the last official census. I will tell you about that too. Okay.

How do we govern ourselves in this complex society? So let's take a note. The story is telling. We go to a village called Laxmanpur which is a small village in the foothills of the mighty Himalayas. It has 200 houses and a population of about 700 people, most of whom are farmers.

So agriculture is the main occupation in this particular place. So you can see the Himalayas are there, the ice-capped mountains, the Himalayas. You have these houses which are...

scattered all over the place. There is this house here, this house here and it is kind of scattered all over the place and you can see cattle etc. Okay. The cows etc. They are all being reared.

Okay. So people cultivate their lands and rear cows or goats. Did you understand? Cows, cattle, cattle rearing etc. are done. Some have relatives serving in the armed forces.

Some of them are relatives of the army who are serving in the armed forces. A few younger villages have migrated to the city in search of jobs. The younger people have gone to the nearby city or any other faraway city, maybe to Mumbai, maybe to Delhi, in order to work there so that you can make more money.

Because in a village, the possibility of making enough money from agriculture is a little less. So people obviously, for those reasons, migrate in search of jobs. What are the needs of these villages? That is, the needs of these villages.

what will be the needs of this village and if you don't know the needs of that village then how will you solve the problems of that village? So you need to know the problems of the village in order to be able to solve the issues of the village. Water for the fields, repairing the main road, what I just now told you about, which got damaged by heavy rains or maintaining the school in the village.

How will the villagers take decisions about these matters? Where will they get the resources? Resources means where will they get the money?

If you want to build two new classrooms for the school, to buy bricks, to buy cement, to buy sand, to whitewash the place, to buy desk, blackboard, everything, you need money. Who is going to give money? The villagers are not going to have so much money that they can spend on the school. And school is a government responsibility if it is a government school. So the government has to come and pay for that, building those two new classrooms.

So if that has to be done, these people will have to represent to the local administration of the government, which could be the district collector, to say that our village needs two new classrooms at the primary school. So this is how decisions are made. The panchayat sits in the village, then they discuss with the people of the village. After that, a representation is sent to the district collector who is an IAS officer to say that please allot funds so that two new classrooms can be built for the primary school. What will happen if there is a dispute over land or if some crop is stolen?

You suddenly find that you are very close to the hills that a bear or a tiger or a leopard comes and kills the cows in your village or kills the goats in your village. So there is a problem. So what will you do?

You will sit, you will discuss and you will represent, you will give a petition, you will call the local forest officers, the local forest department people. You come, you lay a trap so that you can capture the tiger or the leopard or the bear, right? So you can capture the offending animal, the predator and leave it back in the jungle so that our... The problem that we are facing because of this tiger which could become a man-eater also, that is solved. So this is how problems are solved.

So the interaction between the government and the village is done through these representatives which are the panchayat. I hope with these examples I am making it abundantly clear to you. Now, so this is why there is something called a panchayati raj system. This is going on since 1950. Panchayat's, although the legislation of Panchayati Raj was in 80s and came in robust form when Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister. So Lakshmanpur people have a system of local government, local means local government called Panchayat which refers to a village council.

Panchayats bring governance closer to the people, obviously not going to meet the village the prime minister or the chief minister of that state, you are going to have the sarpanch and his panchayat members solving your problem. My neighbor throws garbage in front of my house every day. He doesn't listen.

We have had a fight. People of the panchayat, please solve this problem. So the panchayat will call me, panchayat will call my neighbor and tell him, why are you dropping all your garbage in front of my house?

Please don't do that. So it will solve the problem. If that neighbor still... then the panchayat will have the powers to fine them that you cannot do this.

So, the responsibility of the panchayat is to solve all the clashes, disputes and disagreements. If you understood, then clap your hands. Now, that is why the panchayat, so it becomes possible for the villages also to... take part in the decision making process.

It is a problem which our village is facing that we have a problem where the road is not in good condition. So we need to get the road repaired. So let's all go and ensure that this problem is solved. So you take part in the decision making process of the village in general. So that is called Panchayati Raj which is a form of self-government.

Why is it called self-government? Because I, as a member of that village, as a villager, I am a part of the decision-making process of the problems, I mean, concerning the problems of the village. So, I am kind of, you know, it's like self-rule that I am, my voice is also being heard.

That if I give such an advice, so that this problem gets solved. Like, for example, I'll give you another example. I'll give you a lot of examples because I've done this for many years in terms of... covering politics.

I'll give you an example. For example, in Andhra Pradesh, when Chandra Babu Naidu was Chief Minister of United Andhra Pradesh, now he is still Chief Minister of the new state of Andhra Pradesh, he had a program called Janma Bhumi. What did Janma Bhumi program mean? His thing was, you have come from a village, but then you have moved to the cities, you have done very well for yourself.

Maybe you are living in the USA and you are running a company, you are in the... top position of a company, you are an extremely rich person, wouldn't you want to, that is your karma bhoomi, but wouldn't you want to do something for your janma bhoomi, the place, the land, the bhoomi that gave you your janma, yani ki jis bhoomi par aapka janma hua, toh abhi jab aapke paas paisa hai, toh wouldn't you like to do something for your janma bhoomi. So from here the program was named Janma Bhoomi Program. So what happened in that?

That person will come down and say that, Oh, this is the village where I was born. I spent my first 12 years, first 15 years in this particular village. I went to this village primary school. This is where I studied till class 10. And then I went to the city in order to study further. And then I subsequently went to the USA and have done well for myself.

So I want to do something. for the small children of this particular village. So what can I do? Okay, from my side, the government may not have funds.

Let's forget about the government. That was option one, that you go to the district collector and ask for funds. But leave it, no problem.

I have enough money, so I will sponsor the construction of a wall around the school. Because that old wall has fallen, I will make a nice gate. And I will sponsor the construction of five new classrooms.

Example. So, I will give, so that is come under the Janmabhoomi program that I am giving something back to my village. So, these types of programs also, this. So this is all part of self-government and Panchayati Raj will decide, will tell the person, he may come down and say, what are the problems? Oh, we need classrooms.

Or we can say, we need new bore wells to be dug. So bore wells can be dug. It could be like, you know, we are having a problem with the bad road. Bus is not coming. So he will say, oh, there is a problem with the bus.

Okay, let me do one thing. I will sponsor. a tempo which can carry let's say 12 people at a time okay between the village and the bus stop in town which is a distance of let's say five kilometers okay so from village to town I arrange a tempo so that you will not face any problem of coming and going.

The amount of driver's salary, petrol cost everything will be undertaken by me. This is how problems get solved. This is what Panchayat can do. This is what self-government models are.

I'm giving you lots of examples so that you get the clarity and you also feel interested in what we are reading. Panchayats play a vital role in addressing local issues like what I just now explained, promoting development and ensuring that the benefits of government schemes reach the grassroots level. Like for example, government ki kai saari schemes hoti hai. For example, 10 saal ke chote umar ki koi bhi bachi ho. Girl child, you can put...

an x amount of money in the local post office okay for which you get a certain higher rate of interest it's called uh sukanya samruddi something it's called okay so below 10 years of age if your child if your girl child is let's say three years of age you can put the money and it will be accrued till class till she reaches age 10 and then the entire amount with interest will be available to her when she turns 18. okay that's one of the schemes so The postal department can come and tell the villagers that we have this scheme. So if anyone wants to put your money in the post office under this scheme, you can do. So these are all government schemes. The benefits of government schemes reach the grassroots level.

So that's how government work gets done. Did you understand? Now, this happens at three different levels. Village level, what I just now spoke about, that's where it is called the village parishad or the gram panchayat.

Panchayat is the normal word used. The level above that, this is one village. We can say, let's say 20 villages together.

I'm just giving a random example. It could be 25 in some states, it could be 30 in some states. That will become what is called a block.

Block is also called, in some states, it is also called a mandal. So, it may be called the block panchayat or the panchayat samiti or the mandal parishad. So, like in Telangana, it is called the Mandal Parishad.

So different states have different nomenclature. So here you can say Mandal Parishad at the block level. Now, after combining many blocks, it is called at the district level, where the district collector will be the IAS officer in charge of the entire district as the representative of the state government.

But there it will be called the Zilla Parishad. As I said, in Telangana, it is called Zilla Parishad. In some states, it can be called the district panchayat. But Zilla Parishad...

Mandal Parishad, Gram Panchayat, these are the more common names used in most of the states. Okay, so these are the three levels. So under the district, you will have all the villages which are there in that particular district. For example, there is a district, let's say Nalgonda district in Telangana. So in Nalgonda district, there will be so many villages, they will all be formed part of the Zilla Parishad.

So there will be a Zilla Parishad chief. Under the district parishad chief, there will be 10 mandal parishad chiefs. Under the mandal parishad chief, there will be all the villages which will have a sarpanch and a panchayat committee. Okay, so that's how it works.

Now, as is clear from the diagram, the panchayati raj system works at three levels from bottom up, the village, the block and the district. This is called a three-tier system. Like in AC, there are three tiers in the train. Lower berth, middle berth, upper berth. So, lower berth is the village.

Middle berth is the... mandal or the block and the upper berth is the zilla parishad at the district level i hope it clear hai okay lower middle and upper berth so it's called a three-tier system together these institutions responsibilities cover all the aspects of life in the district from agriculture housing maintenance of roads management of water resources because in the village there are problems like this with education, road, water, agriculture, fertilizers are not available We need to sprinkle fertilizers. Pesticides are not available, right?

So those are the kind of issues that people in the village face, largely related to agriculture, irrigation, education, roads, housing, etc. Okay, healthcare. We need a primary healthcare center in our village because the hospital is 20 kilometers away.

It becomes very difficult, especially in tribal areas. In tribal areas, Adivasi Hamlet is... It takes a long time to reach the nearby city. So women when they are about to deliver children, they find it very difficult. And social welfare to cultural activities.

So all these issues are covered. Is it clear till here? Let's move on.

Let's begin with the base of figure 11.1 on page 164. The Gram Panchayat which is closest. The members of the Panchayat are elected directly by the Gram Sabha. So, when the whole village sits, as I showed you in this, the whole sitting is called Gram Sabha.

Gram Sabha elects the members of the Panchayat, okay? Which is a group of adults from a village or a group of neighbouring villages, which are enrolled as voters. That is, if you are above 18 years of age, then you can also vote.

In the Gram Sabha, women and men discuss all matters related to their area and take... decisions. But the final powers are with the panchayat. If some people are saying this, some are saying that, then finally they decide what to do. We have only Rs. 20,000, so should we do this work or this work?

Which one is more important? Which is having more priority and therefore we decide which one we want to do. Each gram panchayat elects a head or president called the sarpanch, which I told you in the beginning. This is the panchayat. Sarpanch or Pradhan in some places like in UP, Pradhan is also called.

In South India, there is more of a trend of calling them Sarpanch. In recent years, more and more women have become Sarpanch. In fact, there is 33% reservation.

33% of your Sarpanch have to be women. Okay, so that you get more women. Of course, the flip side is what happens if the male of the family is the political head. What he will do is, wife ko nominate kar dega. Lekin asli kaam pura, power, jo bhi decision hai, it still is controlled by the male person.

Which is not the way it should ideally be. So you the idea was to empower more women to take part in decision making. Lekin kai jagao par is tarah ka bhi hor raha hai which is a bit of a negative.

Okay. So here you are seeing five people who are the panchayat. Okay.

And he is obviously the sarpanch and this is the gram sabha taking place. Okay. Now, we will read about three people who have done some very good work. Now, this particular person is Dyaneshwar Kamble. She is a transgender person who was elected sarpanch of Taranwal village in the Solapur district of Maharashtra in 2017. I remember going to Solapur almost 15 years back.

Okay, Kamble's motto is Lokseva, Gramseva and service to the villages, service to the people. So, she does service to the people. She is from Solapur district. So she is one of the sarpanches who has been and she is a transgender.

Kamble defeated six other candidates to become the sarpanch. So she came after choosing the proper election. Vandana Bahadur Maida, a member of the Bheel community from the village of Khandvi in Madhya Pradesh, defied patriarchal norms. Defied means that she faced it. Patriarchal means that only men can be elected.

She said that she will fight the election. And she defied, means she confronted him, stood against him to become the first female sarpanch of her village. She came by choosing the first female sarpanch of her village. She convinced women in the village to attend the sabha meetings and address critical issues like education and sanitation.

That there should be cleanliness and emphasis on education. Earning recognition far and wide, Vandana's journey shows how women can play a leading role in transforming rural India. So there are such inspiring stories too.

In many places, this Sarpanch stands up to his wife and controls everything himself. In fact, there is a web series called Panchayat. I think it's on Amazon Prime. In which, the Sarpanch is called Pradhan there.

He has been shot in UP. I mean, he is based in UP. Although, shooting was mostly done in Madhya Pradesh. It is based in UP. His wife is the Sarpradhan.

he is the one who is called the pradhan and he kind of takes all the decisions. In fact, he sits in the office etc. This is the third person called Hiware Bazar.

Hiware Bazar is a village in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. It used to be affected by frequent drought. So this person, Pongkat Rao Baguji Pawar became the sarpanch.

He started applying Anna Hazare's movement of harvesting water, rainwater harvesting, watershed conservation. It means that such small check dams should be made. There is one in my village, Palakkad in Kerala. There is this kind of a mini dam. Because it takes a lot of money to construct big dams, there is an environmental cost.

But if you can make such check dams, then the water here will not flow and get wasted. No, you can store it here and when needed, you can release it. So that in the months of summer, the village does not face a shortage of water for drinking, for washing clothes, for bathing and water for the cat.

So all these needs can be met if you conserve water like this. So that's what he did. Massive tree planting of lakhs of trees because the more trees you have, you'd be able to attract more water.

So that is one of the things that you can continuously do. With the collaboration and recharge of groundwater, so that rainwater harvesting goes down. The groundwater level will increase.

That will help the overall prosperity of the village. With the collaboration of the villagers, Hakiwari Bazar became a green and prosperous village in a few years. Opatra of Pawar was awarded the Padma Shri in 2020. Just imagine a sarpanch getting the Padma Shri. How great an honour is this?

Because he did quality work and positive work for his village. That's what is important. So wherever you are, if your intentions are good, if your intention is good and if you are capable of putting in hard work, you can achieve wonders. That is what the story of Opatrao Pawar shows us. Okay, very inspiring stories.

Now, in Gram Panchayat, there is a Panchayat secretary who nominates the government. In the Panchayat web series, you will see that a man comes from the city. who is played by this guy called Jeetendra, who was in the Kota factory with Jeetu Bhaiya, same actor, he plays the panchayat secretary in that web series and he performs administrative functions such as calling meetings, maintaining records. Most gram panchayats are also assisted by an officer called the patwari.

Patwari is someone who keeps records of the entire land, you know, how old it is etc. and he maintains the village records in some cases the patwari keeps maps that are generations old he keeps many old maps like for instance in this drawing you are seeing this that map he is the panchayat secretary and these are the other members of the panchayat so how do you think these old maps can be helpful for us can they tell us something about the past and the present now this is a good statistic which you should know It has happened in cities. There has been a lot of crowd because of migration of people from the villages to the cities. So this is a good statistic which you should know from a GK point of view. The projection is that by 2036, that is in the next 12 years, India's towns and cities will be home to 600 million people or 40% of the population up from 31% in 2011. I said that when the last census happened in 2011, 31% was there.

Now it is believed that it is around 34%. It is said that in the next 12 years, in the cities of India, in India's cities, you will have a population which is 40% of the total population of India. So the cities will become more crowded and the city's problems will also increase, which we will talk about in the next chapter, which is a fascinating chapter.

Now. This is a statistic you should remember. In districts, there are a couple of things, but I have found this from a reliable website of civil services. In some places, it is said that there are 788 districts, but I have heard that there are 806 districts. So we can say approximately 800 districts in India.

I am not asking you to remember this in the case of GK. I always feel that GK should also improve. The largest district in India is Kachh, which is in Gujarat, the smallest district is Mahe which is part of Puducherry near North Kerala. Okay, most populated district where there is maximum population is North 24 Parganas.

Where is this? In Bengal. And least populated is Dibang Valley.

This is in Arunachal Pradesh. So, remember these four things. You know, you can impress in the classroom.

I know which is the least populated. I know which is the smallest. I know which is the largest. I know which is the most populated. So, if you know this in GK, it will be better.

So, remember some extra things. In your age, you should learn all this. It will always be helpful. So, this is as far as the districts in India is concerned. Next, we come to what?

The block or the mandal level. There are over 7,000 block offices in India, which means more than 7,000 administrative blocks. This is the number of block or the mandal offices. Villages, how many are there? 2,50,000.

That is 2.5 lakh gram panchayats present in India. So, remember these figures. When you are writing an answer about gram panchayat, if you include this statistic also, it will make your answer look better than that of your classmate.

That's what you want also. So this is interesting statistic data which you will find useful. Now the question was asked, why are old maps used?

The old maps are useful because they help resolve any disputes that may arise over ownership of land. If Ramlal says this is my land, if Shyamlal says this is my land, then Patwari will sit and say that I have old land records. When your grandfather... he finds that Ramlal's grandfather bought this land.

So Shyamlal is forcefully entering there to say that this land is mine. So he will say, Shyamlal you are lying, you are mistaken, the land belongs to Ramlal. So the land records help resolve any disputes that may arise over ownership of land. They also help trace the history of a particular village.

What was the history of this village? Who came here first? Where did it start from?

Who bought the land first? All those things about the history of the village also it can help establish. And finally it can study alteration in forest cover. This is very important.

You know that, oh, 50 years ago when this village was built, then here almost 45% was forest cover. This was a whole jungle. Now see, it is only 10% because we have... We are doing our farming there by cutting the trees of the forest. So the forest cover has shrunk from 45% to 10%.

So over a period of time, you know it because you will have land records. Similarly, here there used to be a lake, here there used to be a pond. Now look, it has all dried up and people are doing their farming here.

So the water bodies, earlier they were about 30%, now they are down to just 5%. So you are able to know... Because you are able to compare it with old land records.

So, if you are asked this question in the exam, so you should write these three points by expanding it. But basically, these three points with these keywords, you must use it. Take a screenshot of it so that you can write it in your notebook. Okay?

Okay. Now, let's come to this. Now. Let's now move to child-friendly panchayat system. Now, this is very interesting.

Panchayats are supposed to listen to everyone. But what happens? I am not an adult. I am not 18 years old.

I am not yet 18. So, I cannot vote. So, how will my voice be heard? So, what many panchayats are doing is to form a Baal Panchayat. Now, Baal Panchayat is not strictly, you know, where, I mean, it's not like allowing people under 18 to vote. But what they do is that the child-friendly panchayat initiative, initiative means the move like that, creates opportunities for children to express their ideas.

So you say, what will be the benefit? Just like in your school, you have the house, you have a house captain, then you discuss that, okay, our house will do this on the school annual day. So you are involved in what? You are involved in the decision-making process. Understood?

Decision-making. making process. So that is what is the entire idea that they express their ideas and opinions on matters that concern their well-being.

That means whatever needs to be done for the well-being of children, their opinion will be asked that they will be able to express their opinion about what concerns their well-being. So steps are being taken in several states to increase the participation of children in Baal Sabhas and Baal Panchayats on a regular basis while village elders try to find solutions to their concern. The children say that, you know...

We have made a new classroom but there is no light because there is a big tree on this side. So there is no light here and there is no tube light in our room. So we have to study in a very dark classroom.

What is the solution? So the Bal Panchayat discusses this. So what can be the solution?

So they think of some solutions and they forward it to the main Panchayat. Now the main Panchayat also sits and discusses and says, Okay, let's do one thing. paint the walls bright white so that there will be natural reflection. Let's also trim some of the branches so that some amount of light comes. If that doesn't work, then we do one thing that on one side, on this side of the wall, we break it a little and make two windows there so that natural light comes from that side.

So if you do those kind of things, if you discuss, you'll get different ideas. and you will be able to solve the problem together. Okay?

Together is the key point. In Maharashtra, for example, a few Bal Panchayats have worked to eliminate child labour and child marriage. Now, this can also be solved by solving bigger issues.

Okay? It can happen that you do this, and this happens in the village. There is a girl in my class, let's say, let's name her Rukmani.

Rukmani, last... She was studying till 7th class, not 8th class because even though she is minor, her parents are getting her married. Child marriage which is illegal in India. Despite that, child marriage is there. So, this Bal Panchayat says that we will stop this.

So, they go to Rukmani's house and tell the parents that uncle, you should not get Rukmani married. She should continue to come to school because you see all her other classmates are coming to school. And Rukmani also doesn't want to get married. She also says that papa I want to go to school.

So you put pressure on that person to say that no you should not get your daughter married so early when she is a minor which is illegal. And if she doesn't agree then the child counsellor can go and complain to the police that this person is doing something illegal. He is getting his minor daughter married. So you see if you involve everybody you can do these kind of things. So you can do child marriage case you can do child labour that.

oh he's not sending instead he's sending his son to work in the town in a mechanic shop which is not fair child labor is banned in india you cannot employ children to do any kind of labor be it an industry be it an agriculture like for instance i have done stories about how children girls would be made to pluck cotton from the cotton fields right which is again so they would not go to school Instead, they would be sent to things. So many of them, I have done stories where they would be carrying their school bags, school bags ko side mein rakke, they would be plucking cotton from the cotton field, right? Many families do that because they need that extra income.

So the Baal Panchayats have brought many children back to school. The Baal Panchayat members get together to convince parents and other adults to send their wards back to school and not to arrange marriages for children or girls who should be studying, okay? So the panchayat has built compound walls for schools to make them safer for children.

Now that could have been one of the demands made by the children, the Baal Panchayat, to ensure that schools get hygienically midday meal scheme. It was started in Tamil Nadu and now it is in the whole country. That means you give food to children under the midday meal scheme, hygienic and nutritious food.

So that also becomes an incentive for parents to send their children to school. Parents from poor families. They think that at least one time good nutritious and hygienic food will be available for the children in the government school and they will study there.

The Gram Panchayat has constructed kitchens in the schools. It is for these efforts that Sankur Radho Khandu has been declared a child-friendly Gram Panchayat. This is in Sikkim.

Let's look at another example. Okay, here is in West Sikkim. Okay, now let's also, I hope I have not missed out anything.

Yeah, okay. Let's look at another example from Rajasthan, the Children's Parliament. I mean, it is an offshoot of Bunker Roy.

Now, Bunker Roy was a renowned person who started this barefoot college initiative a few decades ago. Now, before we get to that, let's revise a little. So, what can Bal Panchayat do?

Campaign against child labour. If you are asked a question and there are a lot of chances of being asked this question, then please pay attention to it. It can campaign against child labour and child marriage. It can work to bring children back to school. I have written points.

You will have to expand in all sentences. Okay. Bal Panchayat members can convince parents to send their wards to school. Wards means children.

And not to marry off minor daughters. Whatever I have told you with example. Okay. He is Bunker Roy.

Okay. This person is Bunker Roy who started this thing of... Barefoot College Initiative. Now, what was done in that?

The rural areas of Rajasthan, the rural areas of Rajasthan, through education and democratic participation, he kind of made the children more powerful, that they have their rights. So children between age 8 and 14 were engaged in government processes, learning about democracy. So that, you know, it doesn't, that's why you would learn about civics.

What is the problem in our schools? History civics think that this is not important, just study science. No, I teach both science and social science.

That's why it is called social science. Because you children should be engaged in the process and thinking process that what is right and what is wrong in India. You should be aware of that and have an opinion. Not that whatever you get on WhatsApp, give it to them. No, what parents tell you, whatever they say is right.

No, sometimes parents can be completely wrong when it comes to their political thinking. So you need to think, read a lot, read different kinds of things so that you are more aware of what's happening in the country. So learning about democracy, social responsibility through night schools, adult education.

parliament-like elections that Baal Panchayat members also get elected. That three members are there standing for election. So all the children of the village vote in order to elect their Baal Panchayat members.

Now it is not the same as Panchayat but in order to make the children feel that they are also part of the decision making process. The parliament followed formal procedures. So that's what Bunker Roy did to empower the children.

for our village and our locality we can also do something positive so it made them feel more responsible socially responsible citizens young citizens so the parliament followed formal procedures including voter id card everyone got an id card campaigning that people could campaign for their votes and if they vote for me then i will do this this this this or that Elected representatives form a cabinet, that is, you form a cabinet that you will be in charge of class one, you will be in charge of the water conservation in the village, you would be in charge of cleanliness around the school. So different people taking on different kind of roles and responsibilities. Overseeing school management and advocating for community needs, that is, everybody should be involved. the initiative fostered leadership skills and social awareness that they learn to become leaders enabling children to challenge societal norms that you know you decide that child labor we cannot allow in our village ours should be a child labor free village we cannot allow allow child marriage ours should be a child marriage free village right so you make a point like that and advocate for change children actively address issues such as access to education sanitation so this is a ball panchayat where a child is standing while there are other children both boys and girls sitting and listening and discussing with the student so social equality contributing to community development the children's parliament initiative received many accolades including the world children honorary award in 2001 this is important so children's parliament is an extremely important concept which was initiated by who bunker roy whose photograph I showed you here.

Okay. So, now, so this is something which you can do. Now, finally, we come to Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad. Quickly, let's go through that.

Panchayat Samiti is at the Mandal block level or the Mandal Parishad and the Zilla Parishad is at the district level. Zilla means in Hindi, it is the word for district. District for students from South India, district is called Zilla in Hindi that's why the word Zilla Parishad so We have already seen the diagram. So the Panchayat Samiti at the block level is the link between the middle birth is the link between the upper birth and the lower birth.

Between the village and the Zilla Parishad, the Mandal Parishad in between which is also called Panchayat Samiti. The members of these institutions are elected by the local people. But because in some villages you will have Panchayat elections, so you will have to put three votes.

For the Panchayat election, for the Mandal Parishad election and for the Zilla Parishad election. You will vote for these three so that it will depend on your votes. In some cases, it will be the Mandal Parishad members who will elect the Zilla Parishad members. It can vary from state to state.

So, the local members of the legislative assembly. Above that is MLA. Above that is MP. So, MP, I hope you have understood the pyramid. MP at the top, MLA, Zilla Parishad, Mandal Parishad.

sarpanch panchayat panchayat mandal parishad ya panchayat samiti zila parishad at the district level mla then mp this is the entire pyramid structure okay so the composition of the panchayat samiti is different from state to state as i said but the role in strengthening the participation of local people remains the same that the role is the same but number jisara se elect hote hain wo sab alag alag hota rehta hai their coordinate matters because this is decided by the state government It is not decided by one central government. So, every state government has its own system. Maharashtra's system will be different from Tamil Nadu's system, will be different from Bihar's system. So, this facilitates the allotment of funds for such development projects.

So, they decide that this panchayat will be given this much money for the watershed program this year. This panchayat needs the road. So, they will give money for the road. So, every village... The needs can be different.

On the basis of that, money will be given. Every district will have different needs. Oh, this particular village is always affected by floods. So let's do some flood management program which is along the coast. But this particular village has a problem of drought.

So for this, drought alleviation programs should be initiated. So it depends. So that is done by the state government in deciding, okay, this needs funds for drought, this needs funds for flood relief. This facilitates the allotment of funds for such development projects and for government schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, that is the road building in the villages area. Gram means village, Sadak means road.

For people in South India who don't understand Hindi, I am translating it. Pradhan Mantri Prime Minister Village Road Program, which promotes the construction of all weather roads in rural areas. All weather means a road which kind of is...

good in good condition irrespective of the weather even in the rainy season at all the three levels special rules have been made so that disadvantaged sections of operation can make their needs and problems heard these institutions also have a provision for reserving one-third of the seats for women okay so every voice will get heard okay so uh why do you think disadvantage so that people who are disabled their needs to be saying people who are elderly they need pensions social welfare pension somebody is there he doesn't have any children or his children have left him he doesn't have any way of earning a livelihood he's 75 years old how do you do it you give something what is called an elderly person pension by the government so that you take care of that particular person's needs so they are the disadvantaged sections of society or somebody who is physically handicapped he cannot go and work so you give a pension so that you take care of him under the social welfare program. So that's why it's important to take care of all sections of society. It's not that our government is only for the rich.

No, for the poor and people who are not in a position to take care of themselves. It is the government's responsibility to take care of all those people. Okay, so these questions, questions we will do separately. And let's remember the structure of this thing. Now, it's important that...

that the first earth shastra was written by Kautilya who was also known as Chanakya some 2300 years ago. Now many among the many things he said, it describes how a state should be structured and run, how the economy can be made prosperous. So what Chanakya said was that he explains how an entire administrative structure should be put in place from the village to the regional capital. That is, from a village to Mumbai, from a village to the regional capital.

Chennai. From the smallest village in Tamil Nadu to the state capital in Chennai, there should be an administrative structure which should be put in place. So what he did was, he said the king shall establish what is called a Sangrahana, a sub-district headquarters for every 10 villages.

Karwatika district headquarters, this became Zilla Parishad, this became Mandal Parishad and Dronamukha for every 400 villages and Esthaniye provincial headquarters for every 800 villages. So 800 became state capital, this became Zilla Parishad, Dronamukha, this became Mandal Parishad and this Sangrahana became at the panchayat level. Although it is of one village but sometimes can be a group of small villages. The In one village, only 30 people live.

So, it's not feasible. So, you bring together some villages so that the population is at least 400-500 people so that it becomes a bigger panchayat. So, that can be also the case.

So, this is panchayat Karvatika. This can be asked to you in the MCQ format. This will be the equivalent of the Mandal Parishad or the panchayat samiti.

This will be of the Zilla Parishad and this is the state capital. In today's village, that's what interesting. So, now... These are the summary notes of this particular chapter.

I hope you understood it completely. The three-tier system, the Bal Panchayats and the Mandal Parishad or the Panchayat Samiti or the Zilla Parishad level also. So with this, we have come to the end of this very important chapter about local government in the rural area.

So please share the videos with your classmates because sharing is ultimately caring. You do good, they will also share something with you which will help you in return. And also don't forget to subscribe.

I find it very surprising that very few Class 6 students are subscribing even though so many of you are using the content. So the videos are seeing the views but their subscriptions are not increasing. It's free of cost.

There is no money to be charged or anything for you to press the subscribe button and press the bell icon so that you get the notification whenever a new video is published. And after this, I will be doing all the questions and answers in separate videos so that everything is thrashed out. you are completely 100% ready for the exam.

Okay, so bye bye. Thank you very much. I will now see you in the next video, which will be on local government in the urban areas.

Okay, bye.

Transcript for:Understanding Grassroots Democracy in Rural Areas

Transcript for:
Understanding Grassroots Democracy in Rural Areas