ABSTRACT
The amendment of India’s Constitution in 1992 was a watershed moment in the history of village deliberative democracy in India, as it mandated all state governments to establish Gram Sabhas as grassroots participatory institutions. It added a new dimension to deliberative democracy by mandating representation for women and marginalised sections of the society and defining panchayats as institutions of self-government and as instruments of planning for economic development and social justice. This chapter analyses the working of the different kinds of Gram Sabhas in the light of empirical studies and focuses on the future of these institutions, taking into account the structural constraints of Indian village society alongside other challenges.
