Gram swaraj
Also called: Village swaraj · Topic: Panchayati Raj: Rural Local Government · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 6 "The State, the Government, and You"; Class 11, Ch 8 "Local Governments"
Meaning
Gram swaraj means "village self-rule". It was Mahatma Gandhi's ideal of self-governing, self-sufficient village republics, which would be the base of India's democracy. In his words, independence "must begin at the bottom". The Constituent Assembly gave it only partial weight. Village panchayats went into Art. 40, a Directive Principle that courts cannot enforce, through K. Santhanam's amendment in November 1948. The ideal later shaped panchayati raj and the 73rd Amendment.
Example
In the Constituent Assembly, Ambedkar called the village "a sink of localism" (4 November 1948). Fear of division after Partition also pushed the Assembly towards a strong Centre. So Gandhi's village republics became only a guiding principle in Art. 40, not a binding rule.
Don't confuse with
- Panchayati raj under Part IX: this is a constitutional system of elected bodies at three tiers, with powers set by state law. Gram swaraj is the wider ideal of villages that run themselves and supply their own needs.