Domains of Diversity in Leaders: An Empirical Investigation in the Context of Local Self-Government

The local self-governments are the essential components for decentralization of power. The 73rd amendment of Man constitution has facilitated for three tier rural local self-governments in the form of Gram Panchayat, Panchayat samitiandZillaPanshad. As per the provisions of this amendment, all sectors of population i.e. schedule cast (SC), schedule tribe (ST), socially and economically backward cast (SEBC), and women from each group including general caste have got elected as members of panchayatiraj bodies. They are considered as new public in democratic governance like Panchayati Raj.The status of these members in decision making process and their role in planning and implementation of policies are yet questionable. Though some rare achievements have been highlighted by government reports, the general functioning of Gram Panchayats, Panchayat Samitis and Zilla Panshad is not in desirable norms as propagated by different mass-medias. With this line of thought an empirical investigation has been made to examine the domains of diversity in leaders of rural local self-governments. It involved 278 grass ischolar_main leaders (22 ZP members, 128 PS members and 128 panchayat members) from cuttack and Malkanagm districts of Odisha. The responses of these leaders were collected through structured interviews using a survey schedule containing 60 items. These items were to be responded, to give information about five domains of leaders' political behavior: Socialization of leadership, perception of leader's task, involvement in panchayatiraj system, participation in decision-making process and functioning of panchayatiraj bodies. Results are discussed in terms of significance of differences between proportions (contingency x2) in relation to sex or setting. Major findings of the study states that setting shows a significant difference in all the five domains, but sex shows significant difference with respect to education, perception, and participation in panchayatiraj system. These differences pose complex psycho-social diversity in the functioning of Panchayatiraj bodies. This diversity in leaders of local bodies should be considered as a base for the planning and implementation of policies.