❖ The Policy Research Working Paper titled ‘Two Hundred and Fifty-Thousand Democracies: A Review of Village Government in India’ was released by the World Bank Group.

❖ In 1992, the 73rd Amendment to the Indian Constitution created 250,000 village democracies (called Gram Panchayats) covering 800 million citizens.

❖ Panchayati Raj Institutions rely almost entirely on grants made by state and national authorities.

❖ On average, 0.67 Panchayat Secretaries per Gram Panchayat only available, with the number falling to 0.33 in states like Uttar Pradesh.

❖ The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 gave constitutional status to the PRIs and established a system of uniform structure, elections, reservations.