Sarpanch

2021-02-26T15:55:39Z

2409:4070:2DCB:1E7F:0:0:53C8:520B: The mean of mukya is very Respectful person

{{short description|Title of the elected head of a village in India}}
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{{Use Indian English|date=December 2015}}

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A '''sarpanch''' or '''gram pradhan''' or '''mukya''' is a decision-maker, elected by the village-level constitutional body of local self-government called the Gram Sabha (village government) in [[India]].<ref name="Misra2004">{{cite book |last1=Misra |first1=Suresh |last2=Dhaka |first2=Rajvir S. |title=Grassroots Democracy in Action: A Study of Working of PRIs in Haryana |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |year=2004 |page=116 |access-date=2010-12-29 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3MbwdXsDLT8C&q=sarpanch+female |isbn=9788180691072}}</ref> The sarpanch, together with other elected panchayat members (referred to as commissioners or a ''panch''), constitute the [[gram panchayat]]. The sarpanch is the focal point of contact between government officers and the village community and retains power for five years.

== Meaning of ''sarpanch'' ==
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''Sar'', meaning head, and ''panch'' meaning five, gives the meaning ''head of the five decision makers of the gram panchyat'' of the village.

In the state of West Bengal, a ''Sarpanch'' is termed as ''Panchayat Pradhan'' (Pradhan means Head) and his deputy as ''Upa-Pradhan''.

== Panchayati raj ==
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Although panchayats have been in existence in India since antiquity, in post-Independence [[India]], most of the rural development and community development projects have been sought to be executed through panchayats. India's [[Federalism in India|federal structure of governance]] means that different states have different laws governing the powers of the [[gram panchayat]]s and sarpanches.

=== Panchayat elections ===
In many states, elections were not held for decades and instead of elected sarpanches, the gram panchayats were run by bureaucratically appointed administrators. With the passage of 73rd and 74th [[List of amendments of the Constitution of India|Constitutional Amendments]] in 1992, a number of safeguards have been built in, including those pertaining to regular elections.

=== Reservation for women ===
Article 243D(3) of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment requires one-third of seats in panchayats and one-third of panchayat chairperson positions be reserved for women, across all three levels of the [[Panchayati raj (India)|panchayati raj]] system.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_of_India/Part_IX|title=Constitution of India|publisher=Government of India}}</ref><ref name="Sharma1998">{{cite journal |last=Sharma |first=Kumud |year=1998 |title=Transformative Politics: Dimensions of Women's Participation in Panchayati Raj |journal=Indian Journal of Gender Studies |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=23–47 |doi=10.1177/097152159800500103|pmid=12321579 |s2cid=36735582 }}</ref>{{rp|24}} This amendment followed various state-level legislative reforms in which [[Reservation in India|reservations]] were set for panchayat positions to be held by women.<ref name="Sharma1998"/>{{rp|32}}

== See also ==
{{col div|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Khap]]
* [[Mayor]]
* [[Lambardar]]
* [[Patwari]]
* [[Zaildar]]
* [[Binodpur Gram Panchayat]]
{{colend}}

== References ==
{{Wiktionary}}
{{Reflist}}

{{Local government in India}}

[[Category:Desi culture]]
[[Category:Hindi words and phrases]]
[[Category:Occupations]]
[[Category:Panchayati raj (India)]]
[[Category:Punjabi words and phrases]]
[[Category:Region-specific legal occupations]]

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Sarpanch