NCERT Solutions Exploring Society: India and Beyond Chapter 11 Comparing the Central and Panchayat levels, and meeting Panchayat members — LET’S EXPLORE
Book page 170 Updated on2026-09-05
Q1.
What similarities and differences do you notice between the governance system at the Central level and at the Panchayat level? (Hint: refer back to Chapter 10 if required.)
Answer
The design is the same; the scale and the closeness are completely different.
Similarities — the same democratic machinery, shrunk to the size of a village:
Representatives are elected by the people at both levels — MPs to the Lok Sabha, members to the Gram Panchayat.
Decisions are taken by discussion and by majority, in an assembly of those representatives.
There is a head. The Prime Minister leads the Council of Ministers; the Sarpanch or Pradhan heads the Gram Panchayat.
Elected members are helped by permanent officials. The Central government has its secretaries and departments; the Gram Panchayat has its Panchayat Secretary and the Patwari.
Both levy taxes, receive funds, make a budget and spend it on public purposes.
Both must face the voters again after a fixed term of five years, and both have reserved seats so that everyone is represented.
Differences:
Point
Central level
Panchayat level
Area covered
The whole country — 1.4 billion people
One village, block or district
Subjects
Defence, foreign affairs, currency, railways, national policies
Water, village roads, sanitation, the primary school, local development
Kind of democracy
Purely representative — 1.4 billion people cannot meet
Both — the Gram Sabha is direct democracy; the Panchayat is representative
Three organs
Legislature, executive and judiciary, kept separate
Mainly executive work. A Panchayat does not make laws and does not run courts
Who has authority over it
Powers come directly from the Constitution
“The States have authority over those institutions”, so structure and functions “differ a little across States”
Distance from the citizen
You may never meet your MP
You can meet the Sarpanch the same evening, and speak in the Gram Sabha yourself
Money
Raises and spends very large revenues of its own
Small own income; depends largely on grants from the State and the Centre
At each tier the people themselves elect the members; some seats are then filled by people who already hold another office, such as Sarpanchs and MLAs.
The one sentence that captures it: the Centre and the Panchayat are the same democracy at two different distances. At the Centre you elect somebody to speak for you; in the Gram Sabha you can speak for yourself. That is why these chapters are called Grassroots Democracy.
Q2.
If you get an opportunity to meet a few Panchayat members, what questions would you like to ask them? Discuss in small groups to create a questionnaire. Meet some Gram Panchayat members or invite them to your school. Ask them the questions in your questionnaire and write a short report.
Answer
Method first. Divide into groups of four. Each group takes one theme so the questions do not repeat — (a) the person and the election, (b) the work of the Panchayat, (c) money, (d) problems and plans. Write 5–6 questions per theme, keep them short and open (never “yes/no”), and fix who will ask, who will write and who will thank the guest. Take permission from your teacher, write a polite invitation letter, and carry a notebook rather than only a phone.
A ready questionnaire you can adapt:
Theme
Questions to ask
The person and the election
How did you decide to stand for election? How many members does our Gram Panchayat have, and how many wards? Is your seat a reserved seat? How long is your term? What did you promise the voters?
The work of the Panchayat
How often does the Gram Panchayat meet, and how often does the Gram Sabha? How many people usually attend? How is a decision taken when members disagree? What does the Panchayat Secretary do? Which work of the last five years are you most satisfied with?
Money
Where does the Panchayat’s money come from? Roughly how much did it receive last year, and on what was the largest amount spent? Which taxes or fees do we pay to the Panchayat? Where can a villager see the accounts?
Problems and plans
What is the biggest problem of our village today? What stops it from being solved? How do you take up a matter with the Panchayat Samiti or the Zila Parishad? What is planned for the coming year? How can students help?
How to write the report — one page is enough, in five parts:
Heading and facts: name of the Gram Panchayat, date of the meeting, who was interviewed and their post.
Why we did it — two lines.
What we asked and what we learnt — the main answers, grouped by theme, not question by question.
What surprised us — one or two things you did not expect.
What we think should be done next, and a line of thanks.
Sample opening of a report: “On 12 August, five students of Class 6 met Smt. Kamla Devi, member of Ward 3 of our Gram Panchayat, in the school library. She told us that the Panchayat has nine members and meets every month, and that the Gram Sabha met twice last year. The largest amount spent last year was on the drinking-water pipeline in the eastern hamlet…” Notice how it names people, numbers and dates. A report without those is only an opinion.
Two rules for the interview: first, listen — do not argue with the guest, and note the exact words for anything important. Second, keep it about institutions and processes: how decisions are taken, how money moves, what the difficulties are. Do not turn it into a discussion about parties or personalities.