Panchayat samiti or block panchayat is a rural local government (panchayat) body at the intermediate tehsil (taluka/mandal) or block level in India. It works for the villages of the tehsil that together are called a development block. It has been said to be the "panchayat of panchayats".[1]
The 73rd Amendment defines the levels of panchayati raj institution as :[2]
The panchayat samiti is the link between the gram panchayat (village council) and the zila parishad (district council).[3] The name varies across states: mandal parishad in Andhra Pradesh, taluka panchayat in Gujarat, and mandal panchayat or taluk panchayat in Karnataka, block panchayat in Kerala, panchayat union in Tamilnadu, janpad panchayat in Madhya Pradesh, anchalik panchayat in Assam.
In India, local self-government bodies exist at intermediary level and are known by different names in different states. For example, in Kerala, they are called "block panchayats," while in other states, they may be referred to as "panchayat samiti," "mandal parishad," "taluka panchayat," "janpad panchayat," "panchayat union", or "anchalik panchayat." These bodies are responsible for providing various services to the people in their respective areas, such as sanitation, healthcare, education, and infrastructure.[4] [5] [6] [7]
Typically, a taluka panchayat is composed of elected members of the area: the block development officer, members of the state's legislative assembly, members of parliament belonging to that area, otherwise unrepresented groups (Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women), associate members (such as a farmer, a representative of the cooperative societies and one from the agricultural marketing services sector) and the elected members of that panchayat block (tehsil) on the zila parishad (district board).[8]
The samiti is elected for five years and is headed by a chairman/president and deputy chairman/vice president elected by the members of the panchayat samiti. One sarpanch samiti supervises the other gram panchayats. It acts as a coordinating body between district panchayat and gram panchayat.
A coterminous mandal parishad is constituted for each revenue mandal. A mandal parishad is composed of:
Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC) members are directly elected by the voters, whereas the mandal president is elected by the MPTC members. The members are elected for a term of five years. The election to MPTCs is done on a party basis. The elections are conducted by the state election commission.
The sarpanch are permanent invitees to the mandal parishad meetings.
The most common departments found in a panchayat samiti are:
Each department in a panchayat samiti has its own officer. Most often these are state government employees acting as extension officers, but occasionally in more revenue-rich panchayat samiti, they may be local employees. A government-appointed Block Development Officer (BDO) is the supervisor of the extension officers and executive officer to the panchayat samiti and becomes, in effect, its administrative chief.[9]
The panchayat samiti collects all the prospective plans prepared at gram panchayat level and process them for funding and implementation by evaluating them from the angles of financial constraints, social welfare, and area development. It also identifies and prioritizes the issues that should be addressed at the block level.
The income of the panchayat samiti comes from:[10] [11]
For many panchayat samiti, the main source of income is state-aid. For others, the traditional taxing function provides the bulk of revenues. Tax revenues are often shared between the gram panchayats and the panchayat samiti.