Polity

Article 40

Also: organisation of village panchayats

Definition

A Directive Principle asking the State to organise village panchayats and give them the powers and authority needed to function as units of self-government; it was given constitutional teeth by the 73rd Amendment in 1992.

Summary card: Article 40. Directive Principle in Part IV. Reflects Gandhian ideas of village self-rule. Implemented through the 73rd Amendment, 1992. Panchayati Raj Day: 24 April — Summary card © UPSCPrep.in

Background and evolution

Gandhi believed that India lived in its villages and that true swaraj meant self-governing village republics. In the Constituent Assembly, B. R. Ambedkar was sceptical; he described the village as "a sink of localism, a den of ignorance, narrow-mindedness and communalism" and preferred the individual as the unit of the Constitution. The compromise was to place village panchayats among the Directive Principles in Article 40, rather than making them a compulsory part of the constitutional structure.

For four decades, panchayats depended on state laws and political will. The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee (1957) recommended a three-tier system of democratic decentralisation, launched first in Nagaur, Rajasthan, on 2 October 1959. Later, the Ashok Mehta Committee (1977) suggested a two-tier structure, and the G. V. K. Rao (1985) and L. M. Singhvi (1986) committees urged constitutional status. An attempt through the 64th Amendment Bill (1989) failed in the Rajya Sabha. The 73rd Amendment finally passed in 1992 and came into force on 24 April 1993.

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Last reviewed: 23 October 2026 · Original UPSCPrep.in content.