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Panchayat samiti is a rural
local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...
(
panchayat The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical ment ...
) body at the intermediate
tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...
(taluka/mandal) level in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. It works for the
village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
s of the tehsil that together are called a development block. It has been said to be the "panchayat of panchayats". The 73rd Amendment defines the levels of panchayati raj institution as : * No Level * Intermediate level * Base level The panchayat samiti is the link between the
gram panchayat Gram Panchayat () is a basic village-governing institute in Indian villages. It is a democratic structure at the grass-roots level in India. It is a political institute, acting as cabinet of the village. The Gram Sabha work as the general bod ...
(village council) and the zila parishad (district board). The name varies across states: ''mandal parishad'' in
Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
, ''taluka panchayat'' in
Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
, and ''mandal panchayat'' in
Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
.


Composition

Typically, a taluka panchayat is composed of elected members of the area: the
block development officer A block is an administrative division of some South Asian countries. Bhutan In Bhutan, a block is called a gewog. It is essentially for oil a group of villages. Gewogs are official administrative units of Bhutan. The country is composed of ...
, members of the state's legislative assembly, members of parliament belonging to that area, otherwise unrepresented groups ( Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women), associate members (such as a farmer, a representative of the cooperative societies and one from the agricultural marketing services sector) and the elected members of that panchayat block (tehsil) on the zila parishad (district board). The samiti is elected for five years and is headed by a chairman and deputy chairman elected by the members of the panchayat samiti. One
sarpanch A sarpanch ( IAST: ''Sarpañch'' Hindi: ''सरपंच'') or Gram Pradhan or Mukhiya is a decision-maker, elected by the village-level constitutional body of local self-government called the Gram Sabha (village government) in India. The Sarp ...
samiti supervises the other grampanchayats. It acts as a co-ordinating body between district panchayat and grampanchayat.


Composition of mandal parishads

A coterminous mandal parishad is constituted for each revenue mandal. A mandal parishad is composed of: * Mandal parishad territorial constituency members. * Members of the state legislative assembly having jurisdiction over the mandal. * Members of the House of the People having jurisdiction over the mandal. * Members of the Council of States who are voters in the mandal. * One co-opted member, belonging to minorities. Mandal parishad territorial constituency (MPTC) members are directly elected by the voters, whereas the mandal president is elected by the MPTC members. The members are elected for a term of five years. The election to MPTCs is done on a party basis. The elections are conducted by the state election commission. The ''
sarpanch A sarpanch ( IAST: ''Sarpañch'' Hindi: ''सरपंच'') or Gram Pradhan or Mukhiya is a decision-maker, elected by the village-level constitutional body of local self-government called the Gram Sabha (village government) in India. The Sarp ...
'' are permanent invitees to the mandal parishad meetings.


Departments

The most common departments found in a panchayat samiti are: * Administration * Finance * Public works (especially water and roads) * Agriculture * Health * Education teacher list * Social welfare * Information technology * Women & child development * ''Panchayat raj'' (''mandal praja parishad'') Each department in a panchayat samiti has its own officer. Most often these are state government employees acting as extension officers, but occasionally in more revenue-rich panchayat samiti, they may be local employees. A government-appointed
block development officer A block is an administrative division of some South Asian countries. Bhutan In Bhutan, a block is called a gewog. It is essentially for oil a group of villages. Gewogs are official administrative units of Bhutan. The country is composed of ...
(BDO) is the supervisor of the extension officers and executive officer to the panchayat samiti and becomes, in effect, its administrative chief.


Functions

The panchayat samiti collects all the prospective plans prepared at
Gram Panchayat Gram Panchayat () is a basic village-governing institute in Indian villages. It is a democratic structure at the grass-roots level in India. It is a political institute, acting as cabinet of the village. The Gram Sabha work as the general bod ...
level and process them for funding and implementation by evaluating them from the angles of financial constraints, social welfare, and area development. It also identifies and prioritizes the issues that should be addressed at the block level.


Sources of income

The income of the panchayat samiti comes from: * land and water use taxes, professional taxes, liquor taxes and others * income-generating programmes * grants-in-aid and loans from the state government and the local zila parishad * voluntary contributions For many panchayat samiti, the main source of income is
state aid State aid in the European Union is the name given to a subsidy or any other aid provided by a government that distorts competitions. Under European Union competition law the term has a legal meaning, being any measure that demonstrates any of the ...
. For others, the traditional taxing function provides the bulk of revenues. Tax revenues are often shared between the gram panchayats and the panchayat samiti. They also host fairs and events to gather money


References

{{Uttarakhand Panchayati raj (India)