INTRODUCTION:

Villages in India have developed their own distinct village culture over the centuries. Village communities in India have developed a diverse 'community life' since time immemorial. Panchayatiraj is not a new phenomenon for India. Gram Panchayats have existed as a system of Indian society since ancient times. It is not wrong to say that for all real purposes they were 'Little Republics'.

There were three types of leadership in traditional Indian society. Which included Zamindari system, Gram Panchayat and Caste Panchayat. The zamindari leadership was mainly based on the system of internal relations of the society and the right to land. In the villages, the person who owns more land is considered by the people as a zamindar and he has power over the society. The authority of such types of leadership is found to be hereditary, i.e. passed down from generation to generation. As a result, the person or family who owns the most land assumes leadership. Due to which they are seen enjoying power over the society. This type of leadership was often passed down from generation to generation.

Traditional leadership in India :-

Another base of political leadership was found in the form of village panchayats. However, the organization of village panchayats in India was not uniform everywhere. Village Panchayats used to inform the individuals of their rights in the society. The rights of the village panchayats were seen as the real basis of the political leadership system. The individuals of the society got justice through the laws and regulations made by such organizations in the village. Here, if we look theoretically, the place of Gram Panchayats was paramount. However, the person who was financially wealthy assumed leadership.

The third base of political leadership was the caste panchayats. A caste panchayat is a panchayat of a particular caste group. who live in a specific geographical area. In which a person of the same caste gets leadership in a group of his own castes and is given power based on them. In such panchayats specific punishments are given to violators of the rules. Power is exercised over members of one's own caste. The objective of these caste panchayats was to discipline the people of their own caste. Traditional caste panchayats have been found in tribal societies for centuries. Traditional caste panchayats consisted of a president and his members. The main aim of such panchayats was to maintain social order.

Political Leadership in Modern India :-

In modern Indian society, those who lead leadership have become diverse leaders. The post-independence years in Indian society have given rise to various changes in leadership. Along with the change in political power, there has also been a drastic change in economic and social power. Many leaders of the period of 1947 worked very hard to bring freedom to the Indian society and also worked tirelessly to structure the Indian society. The selfless spirit of the leaders in that period was to change the state and direction of the Indian society. Since then, corruption has been on the rise. Corruption is at the forefront of Indian politics. Today in Indian society, casteism, communalism, regionalism, corruption, selfishness, etc. are seen in high proportion.

Prof. S. C. According to Dubey “Indian political leadership is going through a severe crisis. There is a change in the mindset of the people in the existing democracy. People feel that leaders have let them down.” After the period of Indian independence, people have been seen feeling unsatisfied with the actions of the leaders. The society has been deprived of many benefits. Decisions are often not taken by the leadership due to which the policies, plans made are not successful. They lead to poor results. As such, leadership is imperative. It is inevitable that a prominent impression of leadership is created among the people of the society.

Emergent leadership is studied in various leadership studies. In which there is a need for leadership that helps in the development of Indian society. Various studies have found that the new leadership has little interest in social development. It is seen coming in contact only with certain sections of the society. Most of the leaders are seen to keep more contact with the upper or higher classes of the society. Due to this, dissatisfaction is seen in the lower sections of the society. Leaders of Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha are seen to be less associated with the lower sections of the society.⁵

Leaders of Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly are found to have less public relations. Such leaders state that the public relations through their followers are kept up to the person below but it is not in fact. Such type of leaders are related to the wealthy classes. They are seen to have less contact with the lower classes.

Leadership plays the most important role for a nation as well as for an organization to survive and thrive. Be it the Prime Minister of the country or the Chief Minister of the state or the elected members of the Panchayati Raj (Zilla Panchayat members, Taluka Panchayat members, Village Sarpanches) etc., leadership plays an important role in the political process. Be it a society or a country or an administration, it needs powerful leaders who are transparent, dedicated to their community and accountable to the people.

Many countries in the world have increasingly adopted democratic structures for governance. In such a structure, leaders are elected by the people on the basis of adult suffrage. Such a leader is entrusted with the task for a fixed period of time and has to be re-elected at the end of the term. India also has various rules related to elections. Political parties are also seen in elections. Here it becomes imperative to understand a few things about leadership and leaders.

Origin and development of Panchayatiraj in India :-

These panchayats of ancient times have been constantly changing over time. After independence almost all the states passed laws for development. While various experiments are being done within different states of India, the Planning Commission G. V. K. Rao Committee constituted. The process of decentralization of power has become very necessary, for which it is necessary to change the constitutional provisions. It is well known that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi has made efforts to make Panchayats more vital. Accepting the necessity of this matter, a new bill was introduced. "Which later came into force as the 73rd Constitutional Amendment, Panchayat Act - 1993" from April - 94.

In the 1973 constitutional amendment, it was decided that panchayats in each state would be divided into three levels. In the old law there was a system of Nagar Panchayats, which has not been replaced in the new law and replaced by Municipalities.

· Panchayatraj should be given constitutional recognition to strengthen Panchayatraj.

· District Panchayats should be empowered for development and planning.

· Regular and free elections should be held every five years.

Thus, based on the above recommendations, the Constitutional Amendment Bill was introduced in June 1990. Then, it was decided in the meeting of Chief Ministers to place Panchayat Raj as a separate chapter in the constitution, to prepare its modal guidelines for improving the levels of panchayats and to decide the level structure by the state governments, to introduce the system of election of panchayats and also to introduce the concept of gram sabha.

Origin and Development of Panchayati Raj in Gujarat :-

Panchayatiraj was started on 1st April 1963 with the efforts of Shri Balwantbhai Mehta in Gujarat after the independence of India. A 13-member Democratic Decentralization Committee was formed in Gujarat under the chairmanship of Rasiklal Parikh. Decentralization of power is at the heart of Panchayatiraj. By devolving power to the villages at the local level, achieving economic, social and cultural development is one of the objectives of Panchayatiraj.

The three-tiered structure of Panchayati Raj was implemented in Gujarat from 1963. The main objective behind the 73rd constitutional amendment is to create people's participation and allow development decisions to be taken at the local level. At the same time, an attempt has been made to make the Panchayatiraj organization an effective organization through this amendment.

Thus, the 73rd Constitutional Amendment gave constitutional status and place to the Panchayatiraj system. This three tier system of Panchayatiraj is as follows.

Three Tier Structure of Panchayatiraj:-

1. District Panchayats.

2. Taluka Panchayats.

3. Gram Panchayats.

Scope of Research Study:-

The study area of the present research is South Gujarat. It includes 4 districts namely Bharuch, Surat, Navsari, and Valsad. District panchayat members, taluka panchayat members and sarpanches from each of these districts have been selected as respondents or informants through purposive sampling method.

Information of four districts of South Gujarat:

In the present study South Gujarat has been selected as the study area. Here the information about the social, economic, geographical, demographic etc. of the 7 districts of South Gujarat is given very briefly.

Demonstration selection :-

A total of 192 respondents namely 96 tribal leaders and 96 non-tribal leaders were selected through purposive sampling method keeping in view the entire subject of the present study. Which is specified in the following table.

Aggregation of information :-

Various methods and techniques have been used to gather data through fieldwork for the present research which are as follows.

· Inspection method

· Participatory observation

· Method of visitation

· Schedule visits

· Questionnaire method

Importance of Research :-

· This research is limited to 4 districts of South Gujarat.

· This research has been studied keeping in mind District Panchayat Members, Taluka Panchayat Members and Village Sarpanches.

· The present study is a comparative study of leaders of tribal and non-tribal communities.

· Since very little research has been done on the present study, the opportunity to review the reference literature becomes less available.

After classifying the data into various tables the following findings :-

· In the religion under present study 83.33% tribal leaders practice Hinduism. Compared to which 96.88% non-divasi leaders practice Hinduism. Due to Hinduization and Christianization of tribal society, leaders also practice Hinduism and Christianity.

· In the education level under study 26.04% tribal leaders have attained higher secondary education. Compared to which 38.54% tribal leaders have got secondary education. Here tribal and non-tribal leaders are found to have studied at different levels of education. No leader is illiterate in both types of leadership.

· 56.25% tribal leaders in the occupation under study are farming. Compared to which 41.66% non-tribal leaders do agriculture. The main occupation of tribal leaders is agriculture. Despite having less land, he depends on agriculture. While non-tribal leaders are seen more engaged in business, jobs.

· 48.95% of the tribal leaders have an annual income of 25,000 to 50,000 in the annual income of the family under study. Compared to which 31.87% non-tribal leaders have an annual income of 76,000 to 100,000. Here the annual family income of non-tribals is much higher than that of tribal leaders. Their reason is more than more land, occupation, business, job. So their income is also seen more than tribal leaders.

· 100% tribal leaders and non-tribal leaders in the need of money to become a leader under study I think it is necessary for a person to be financially viable to become a leader nowadays. 100% of tribal leaders and non-tribal leaders in economically poor person I think that in the current times it is imperative to have economic viability to get leadership.

· In factionalism due to political party under study 54.16% tribal leaders believe that political parties cause more factionalism. Compared to which 66.66% non-tribal leaders believe that political parties cause more factionalism. Here it clearly shows that non-tribal leaders report more factionalism due to political party than tribal leaders.

· 73.95% of the tribal leaders in how to overcome the conflict under study use persuasion to overcome the conflict or conflict. Compared to which 66.66% of non-tribal leaders remove conflicts or quarrels by persuasion. Here tribal leaders are more likely than non-tribal leaders to try to resolve conflict through persuasion. It says that the quarrels or conflicts of the society should not go to court or police account and money or time should not be wasted. Here, both types of leaders say that 100% tribal leaders and non-tribal leaders do justice impartially in social conflict or conflict.

· In the corruption under study 69.80% tribal leaders say they will oppose corruption. Compared to which 76.04% non-tribal leaders say they will oppose corruption. Here, tribal leaders believe that opposing corruption does not matter. They believe that only the people at the top do corruption. Here non-tribal leaders are more against corruption.

REFERENCE:

1. Jawaharlal Patal (2007): The Changing Shape of Rural Leadership – A Sociological Study – Pt Ravi Shankar Shukla University Raipur (Ch.C.)

2. Singh EP (1995): Changing Patterns of Rural Power Structure: Discovery Publication House Delhi

3. Dr. Ramji Sharma : Indian Social System and Tradition Bridge Publications, Patna, Bihar

4. Jatindrasih Sisodia (1999): Female Leadership of Scheduled Castes in Panchayati Raj, National Institute of Rural Development, Rajendranagar, Volume – 2

5. Jawaharlal Patal (2007): The Changing Shape of Rural Leadership – A Sociological Study” Pt Ravi Shankar Shukla University Raipur (Ch.C.)

6. Mahipal (2013): Panchayati Raj and its coming problems, National Book Trust New Delhi – 110070

7. Joshi, Dr. RP Mangalani Dr. Rupa (2013): Joshi, Dr. RP Mangalani Dr. Rupa, Panchayati system in India Rajasthan Hindi Granth Academy Jaipur

8. Balel, Dr. Basantilal (2013): Panchayati Raj and Development Planning, Rajasthan Hindi Granth Academy Jaipur

9. Poonamkumari (2014): Poonamkumari, Women Leadership in Panchayatiraj – A Comparative Study in Rajasthan and Haryana District Context, Ph.D Study, University of Rajasthan Jaipur

GUJARATI BOOKS:

1. PV Young (1968): Research Methods, Oxford Press.

2. Allport (1973): Research Methods, Sage Publications, Indian Print.

3. Research Methods in Psychology: Jamanadas Publications, Ahmedabad.

4. Manhar Charpot (2016) : Panchayatiraj and Tribal Women - Ph.D. Studies, Gujarat University.

Received on 11.02.2024 Modified on 03.03.2024

Int. J. Rev. and Res. Social Sci. 2024; 12(1):10-14.

DOI: 10.52711/2454-2687.2024.00003