History of the day:
- The National Panchayati Raj Day is observed annually on April 24. The Government in consultation with the states had decided to celebrate the day as National Panchayati Raj Day.
- The word ‘Panchayat’ is an amalgamation of two words where ‘Panch’ means ‘five’ and ‘Ayat’ means ‘assembly’ and ‘Raj’ means ‘rule’.
- The observance marks the day the 73rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution came into effect.
- The Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992, which gave constitutional status on Panchayati Raj institutions, came into effect from April 24, 1993. The day marks a defining moment as it decentralised political power to the grassroot level.
National Panchayati raj day 2020:
- PM Narendra Modi interacted with all the village sarpanchs across the country through video conferencing
- Panchayati Raj Minister Narendra Singh Tomar was also present on the occasion.
- PM inaugurated a unified e-GramSwaraj Portal and mobile application on the occasion. The portal is a new initiative of the Panchayati Raj Ministry to provide all the gram panchayats with one single interface to prepare and implement their gram panchayat development plan (GPDP).
- The Prime Minister also launched the Swamitva Scheme on the occasion, which will provide an integrated property validation solution for rural India. The scheme is expected to boost the government’s efforts to alleviate poverty in rural areas.
- Under the scheme, the inhabited land will be demarcated in rural areas by using the latest surveying methods such as drone technology with collaborated efforts of the Survey of India, State Panchayati Raj Department, Ministry of Panchayati Raj and State Revenue Department.
“When the panchayat raj is established, public opinion will do what violence can never do.” -Mahatma Gandhi
“The voice of the people may be said to be God’s voice, the voice of the Panchayat.” -Mahatma Gandhi
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