New Book ‘Fake Democracy: The Panchayati Raj’ Examines India’s Local Governance System & Its Challenges

A new book, Fake Democracy: The Panchayati Raj – A Salvage Call for the Nation, has launched a scathing critique of India's local governance system, arguing that the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments of 1992 "constitutionalized a colonial inheritance" rather than empowering grassroots democracy.

The book presents data-driven evidence that India's three-million-strong local body network operates as a "legal syndicate" that systematically extracts public funds while shielding criminals and destroying social fabric in rural India.

The book's central argument is radical: India must scrap all local bodies—Gram Panchayats, Panchayat Samitis, Zila Parishads, and Municipal Corporations—and replace the political layer with professional departmental administration accountable to citizens.

The Evidence: More than ₹1.5 Lakh Crore in Unaccounted Funds

The book cites government auditors to substantiate its claims. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) found that Bihar's Panchayati Raj Department alone has ₹70,877 crore in unsubmitted Utilization Certificates—public funds released with no proof of expenditure. West Bengal's Panchayat and Rural Development Department has ₹81,839 crore similarly unaccounted.

The 15th Finance Commission allocated ₹4,36,361 crore to local bodies for 2021-26. The book argues that without robust accountability mechanisms, these funds flow into a system structurally designed for extraction.

Criminalization and Systemic Capture

Between 15% and 25% of winning candidates in audited municipal elections have declared pending criminal cases, according to data compiled from State Election Commission records. The book documents cases of sitting sarpanches and councilors arrested for extortion, assault, molestation, and running sex rackets.

The book defiantly explains the Local Bodies, its authorities given by Panchayat Raj, its elections, its funding, the participant candidates and their influx, the forceful patronage  by the area MPs and MLAs, as crime syndicate. It correctly proves by mentioning some recent crimes such as heinous gang rape on 4th April 2022, the Hanskhali case (Nadia, West Bengal), the brutal murder of Santosh Deshmukh on December 9, 2024 (Village- Massajog, Taluka- Kaij, District Beed, Maharashtra).

It also points out the hidden crimes done directly indirectly by Local Body members or by the employee of Local Bodies independently or under pressure from these Local Body members which are  seeded through false documentation for bribery or as direct favor to the elected Local Body member for a variety of illegal activities, business.

The MP and MLA Fund Controversy

The book criticizes MP and MLA funds harshly. Under these so called Local Area Development Schemes (MPLADS) and its state-level equivalents (MLALAD), each MP receives ₹5 crore annually, and MLAs receive between ₹2 to ₹15 crore annually, totaling over ₹16,000 crore per year flowing into local development works.

The Second Administrative Reforms Commission recommended abolishing these schemes in 2007. Parliament has not acted on the recommendation for 18 years. The book argues that these funds serve not as development instruments but as patronage tools that ensure legislators' electoral survival through local body networks.

It makes you conclude that it has exposed a "Legal Syndicate" which has been running subtly under the illusion of a festival of democracy. The book makes a strong sense of guilt to the reader for voting to Local body Elections, prompting him to introspect.

Rural India: The Hotspot of "Election Narcotics"

The author expresses his fury to the Panchayat Raj on what it has done to the peoples from villages and claims that the government has made rural India an “Election Narcotics”. The book documents how the average rural citizen participates in eight to fourteen elections every five years, leaving villages in a state of permanent political mobilization that destroys social cohesion and family bonds. The author argues that this system creates an addiction to political rivalry, diverting attention from economic development and hollowing out rural communities.

The Author's Appeal to people of India to ask simple questions

In the beginning pages the author has put some questions.

A Radical Solution

Chavhaan appeals directly to all the MPs and MLAs to act immediately on this as a national emergency and calls upon to discard this Local Body system. The author means it can only be done in Parliament and Assemblies who created it. He personally makes sincere requests to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and veteran leader Sharad Pawar to lead a constitutional amendment dismantling the Panchayati Raj system.

"My sincere, earnest request to the honorable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi Ji, to kill this monster created by the British and save our country."

The book proposes replacing the thirty Lakh person political layer with proportionately few sincere professional officers and administrators with technology-enabled monitoring and direct citizen feedback.

"Scrap it, bury it, and dissolve every single local body across the length and breadth of India. Wipe out every Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti, Zila Parishad, and Municipal Corporation. A terminal cancer cannot be cured by negotiating with the cancer cells."

The book is available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0H7T45MBK

About the Author

Mr. Chavhaan is a Solapur born professional with roots in rural India. His observations over decades prompted him to ask the questions that form the foundation of this book: "Did the British really travel almost 11,000 km to teach us 'political education' and train us in 'self-governance'?"

When asked how you realized this he gives a true personal answer which can be felt throughout the book. He answers, “Something, I have been noticing and feeling intuitively for more than 30 years since my 11th class. The few topics of CIVICS taught and got mugged up in school days created some questions in my mind which I carried since long deep-muted in mind. I found the answers in the form of this book."

One can visit the book intro webpage to know more about its said hypothesis and further reviews.

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