Challenges Faced by the Panchayati Raj system

The Panchayati Raj system in India faces the following challenges:

• Providing of Powers to lower levels: The task of providing powers to the Panchayati Raj system is at the sole discretion of the state legislatures according to the Constitution of India.
• Lack of Resources: 
  • The Panchayati Raj system is not provided with adequate resources in order to carry out the activities assigned to it smoothly. The Finance Commissions in many states provide very small amounts of money to these local governments. 
  • Due to these Gram Panchayats need to raise the funds themselves by renting shops, and levying fees on clean water and house tax but this is not possible in most of cases.
• Sarpanch Pati: Sarpanch Pati culture has been abolished in India in 2015 by the PM of India but it can still be found in many areas due to the lack of awareness among people.
• Infrastructure: 
  • Gram Panchayats usually do not have a proper place for their functioning. Some of the Gram Panchayats use the space of schools, Anganwadi or village parks 
  • Those that have a space of their own, do not have proper facilities such as toilets, clean drinking water, sanitation and electricity supply. Also the access to internet is very limited in most of the cases which is essential to do certain tasks.
• Lack of Staff: The Gram Panchayats do not have adequate staff needed for their functioning such as Junior Engineers, DEO, Support people, secretaries, etc.