As long as rural development is concerned, there is a need for decentralization of administration at the grassroots level where the villages form the basic social and economic unit. In order to formulate and to implement the rural development pragrammes, the administrative structures need to have one supervisory agency preferably an elected body such as panchayat under which the project could be executed. Panchayati Raj institution is, therefore, a recent innovation of Government of India. It has been entrusted to work with an efficacy for the rural upliftment. It was introduced to ensure socio-economic and political development at grassroots level. The Panchayati Raj system was introduced in Arunachal Pradesh in the form of first modern political institution for better governance under the regulation of North East Frontier Panchayati Raj regulation 1967. It has brought several changes in the administrative scenario of Arunachal Pradesh. In rebuilding the village society, Panchayati Raj has been entrusted the role to implement various governmental schemes for development of living standard and the social pattern of rural area. As such it is an interesting subject of study in the context of the contemporary local governance in order to examine the role of Panchayati Raj system and to understand people's perceptions towards the modern local governance. With these objectives, the present study reflects the importance of the Panchayati Raj system in rural area of Arunachal Pradesh.
Government schemes, local Governance, people's perception, panchayat, rural development
