ABSTRACT
The degree to which mass support or participation is forthcoming depends partly on the prior existence of a political community and partly on the consensus or dissension which emerges along with the efforts to develop the country. A knowledge of the conditions under which the directives of public authority are implemented will contribute to an understanding of the Indian political community. The rhetoric of community development will be Used as symptomatic evidence of the problems encountered in the exercise of public authority at the local level. India possesses a great administrative apparatus left as a legacy of British rule. In this respect she is uniquely favored among the "developing nations" of the world. Since half of the total and two thirds of the rural population live in communities of 999 inhabitants or less, possessing little or no contact with the "outside world," this large segment is yet hardly a part of India's developing political community.
