Contesting Legacy of Local Governance in India : The Perceptions of Gandhi and Ambedkar

Local government works as a self-governing system that stops any kind of strong and autocratic rule at the grassroots level. In India ,the concept of local governance has roots that date back to the colonial period and has different philosophical ideas behind it. Gandhi believed in a decentralized political system based on moral and spiritual values, and he dreamed of villages being self-sufficient and self-governing. Gandhi saw village swaraj, through the panchayat system, as a real example of non-violence in political and socio-economic matters. On the other hand, Ambedkar thought that Gandhi’s ideas were too narrow and  asserted   that democracy could not be separated from social justice and the caste system needed to be removed for true democracy in India. Thus, Gandhi and Ambedkar had different views on panchayati raj. However, the system of local government in India has been built on Ambedkar’s principle of an egalitarian village society and the Gandhian concept of gram swaraj. The different legacies of Gandhi and Ambedkar, on local governance, have made the panchayati raj in India both democratic and inclusive.

Keywords:
Gandhi, Ambedkar, Local Government, Gram Swaraj, Panchayati Raj, Decentralization.