ABSTRACT
The Indian Constitution could not be shaped according to Mahatma Gandhi's views; this is the general perception, and it is substantially true. Although such significant parts of the constitution were result of policies of Congress, the freedom movement and leadership of Gandhiji, it did not acknowledge the village as the basic unit with constitutional authority and powers of planning and taxation that was the main thrust of Gandhiji's discourse. There were many who held that the village in Gandhiji's imagination did not exist in reality and they saw no possibility of it materializing in future also. This transformation of village was taking shape in days when the constitution was being written, and Jawaharlal Nehru as well as Ambedkar was quite aware of it. According to him, most of the traditions inherited were detrimental to democracy, and the schemes of local self-government or cooperative principle are trying to introduce in the villages are not rooted in the past.
