Village Republics of Tomorrow

In framing a new constitution for the whole of India, no one can forget the fact that India is mainly an agricultural country and the bone of its population lies in the villages. Any future constitution must fit in with Indian conditions, and take into consideration and make full allowance for this basic fact. The constitutional structure for India must have as its foundation the village republic.

Village republics have existed and functioned efficiently in many civilised countries from ancient times. We hear of the City States of Greece in the time of Aristotle and Plato, and there were republics in India as far as the sixth century during the time of Buddha and Mahaveera. Mahaveera’s father was an elected president of a republic in Magadha. The latest thought in the regeneration of India is "to the villages". Mahatma Gandhi has taught us to put the needs of the village population above all other matters. Any constitution, therefore, which has in view the welfare of the masses in future must have as its ultimate ideal a social, economic and political democracy in India based on village republics.

The villager must be made to realise that his destiny and that of his community is in his hands. He must assume responsibility for administering the affairs of his own village, and seek to make it a progressive unit in matters of education, health, sanitation and economic welfare.

Franchise

In the future Indian State, there must be general elections with adult franchise without any distinction of caste, creed, colour or social status. The village community should have the power to return one member for every fifty of its adult population. Any literate person who commands the confidence of fifty of his adult fellow-citizens will be elected a ‘leader’ or primary voter. These primary voters will exercise their votes from the elections to the village panchayat to the elections to the highest councils in the land. Under this arrangement every community or interest will get due representation. Thus Harijans, Women, Muslims and other minorities and interests will have a chance to elect their own representatives, and every member of the group of 50 will personally know their leader, the primary voter, the only qualifications of a primary voter being that he or she can read and write, and is not guilty of moral turpitude.

These representatives will elect the Village Council, which will nominate the chairman and allocate functions. This council will be responsible to the people and frame the budget of the village. It will look after education, sanitation, housing, the development of village industries and general improvement of the village. The Village Council assisted by a paid secretary, appointed by the District Council, will collect the taxes, land revenue, etc., and will be responsible for the loans paid to the villagers. Patels, Patwaries and other hereditary village officers will no longer exist.

The Village Council will give grants to open primary schools for the benefit of the village children. It will maintain the 4th class roads and arrange for inter-communication with the neighbouring villages. It will also see that the village industries are given adequate attention so that the income of the villager is improved. That a portion of the revenue of the village remains behind will be an inducement to every villager to properly cultivate the lands and to increase the income of the village. The council will appoint civic guards for police work and exercise jurisdiction in petty criminal and civil cases. It will arrange for the adequate supply of water for drinking purposes. Irrigation, water rights, the village temple, fairs all these will be administered by the Village Council. This is more or less a revival of the conditions which existed from ancient times till the introduction of British administration. In towns, too, any group of 50 can elect their own leader; in towns, as in villages, the leader will be the primary voter. The village will ordinarily utilise one-third of the income for its expenditure and two-thirds will go to the Taluk Council.

Taluk Council

From the village unit, we go to the Taluk unit. The members of this council will be elected by the primary voters (the leaders of every group of 50 persons). By this means every interest in the Taluk will have its representation. The Taluk concerned may have about 50 villages under its control and every group of 100 primary members will have the right to elect one representative for the Taluk. The Taluk Council will be responsible for the 3rd class roads leading from important places of the Taluk. It will take care of school education up to vernacular final and organize agricultural schools suited to local conditions and resources available in that particular locality. The Taluk will organize medical relief and volunteers for internal peace and order. It will have one Munsiff Court for disputes which do not come under the power and jurisdiction of village councils. Revenue and judicial work will be separated.

The Taluk Council will utilise one-third of its revenues and two-thirds will go to the District Council.

District Council

One member will be elected to this council for every 500 primary voters and it will have a strength of about 25 members. The District Council will maintain 2nd class roads for connections within the District as well as important places in the neighbouring areas. It will have the charge of high schools and higher industrial institutions. It will take up big agricultural projects and the restoration of major tanks, and administer its excise policy as decided by the Province. It will organize central industrial schools, and, in addition to exercising the functions of the present Local Boards, administer other affairs concerning the whole District. The Executive officers will carry out the policy of the District Council. The following officers of the District will be ex-officio members of the District Council, namely, the District Education Officer, Excise Officer (if there is no prohibition), Executive Engineer, D.S.P., District Medical Officer and District Collector.

The District Council will utilise one-third of its income, and two-thirds will go to the Province.

Provincial Council

Future India will have to be divided into Provinces on a linguistic basis, such as Karnatak, Andhra, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, etc., instead of the arbitrary divisions now obtaining. Boundary commissions consisting of representatives of the Provinces concerned, together with arbitrators, will demarcate the boundaries, a plebiscite being taken when necessary before deciding the cases of villages in border areas.

Every Province will have a University of its own and will foster the culture of that particular Province, adopting the language of the Province as the medium of instruction, with Hindustani and English as compulsory languages.

In choosing Governors of Provinces or Chancellors of Universities, who will be merely constitutional heads enjoying titular authority, the possibility of the Rulers of the major Indian States filling these exalted offices may be borne in mind.

It is the hope of all progressive people that, after the end of this war, the principle of self-determination will prevail and every region will have a Government of its own choosing. In accordance with this principle, there will be no room in the India of the future to partition the country into areas such as obtaining at present, viz., British India, Indian India, French India, Portuguese India, etc. These distinctions will disappear and the whole country considered as one political unit.

Central Government

The Provincial Governments will have two houses–the House of Commons (praja Mandal) and the House of Lords (Raja Mandal). There will be about half a million primary members in every Province of India, and for 5,000 primary voters there will be one representative to the Praja Mandal.

The Raja Mandal will consist of the Ruling Princes of minor Indian States, big zamindars and talukdars. In the Central Government also there will be two houses, the Mahaprajamandal consisting of representatives directly elected, one for every 50,000 primary voters. The Ruling Princes of major States will be the members of the Maharaja Mandal (Central). The Central Government who have supreme authority over the whole of India.

In the future India, the Rajas and Maharaja, instead of being the absolute rulers that they are at present, could rise to be leaders, and make themselves useful by enlisting themselves in the diplomatic services and in the commissioned ranks of the military services, thus regaining their Swadharma as true Kshatriyas.

The Central Government will receive from the Provinces two-thirds of their income and it will have its own independent source of taxation such as customs duties, and duties on imports and exports. It will arrange for a National Flag and pass legislation regarding the national language and the scripts. The cultural interests of minorities will receive adequate safeguards.

The Services

The Central Government will arrange for public service commissions and there will be five grades of appointments:

Rural from Rs. 25 to Rs. 50

Taluk from Rs. 35 to Rs. 75

District from Rs. 100 to Rs. 250

Province from Rs. 150 to Rs. 500

Central from Rs. 500 to Rs. 1,000

The I.C.S. examination should be abolished. The District Council should select candidates for the rural appointments, the Provincial Government for Taluk and District, and the Central Government for the Provincial Services. In all appointments 50 per cent must be promotions from lower grades and 50 per cent direct recruitment.

In the Central services 50 per cent must be taken from the Provincial cadre and the other 50 per cent should be selected from among well-known scientists, medical men or men of letters or leaders of industry.