What is people’s participation?

The concept of panchayats in post-colonial India as reflected in the Constitution and in the reports of the committees and commissions and the experiences of their working, tend to suggest that there can be three perspectives on panchayats as instruments of development (the instrumentalist perspective), panchayats as institutions of self-government (institutional perspectives). The first perspective popularised by the Balvantrai Mehta Committee to which the birth of panchayats is traced, puts emphasis on non-political panchayats, putting rural development as the first and foremost agenda for the first generation non-political panchayats. The participation of the people was considered necessary for better implementation of

rural development programmes.