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THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA
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Part IV

Article 40

Organisation of village panchayats

The State shall take steps to organise village panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government.

Version 1

Article 31A, Draft Constitution of India 1948

The State shall take steps to organise village panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government.

Summary

Draft Article 31A (Article 40) was not part of the Draft Constitution of 1948. It was a new amendment introduced in the Assembly on 22 November 1948, while deliberations over the Draft Constitution were underway. The amendment aimed to ‘unequivocally’ direct the State to realise a Panchayati Raj system in India.

The Assembly seemed to be in consensus over the inclusion of the Article in the Draft Constitution. Most members’ speeches focused on why the Article was important. While some emphasised that the Article was the culmination of M.K. Gandhi’s ideas on the role of villages, others raised the economic and even military benefits of organising ‘village republics’.

The amendment was added to the Draft Constitution with no opposition.