Panchayati Raj institutions have become a byword for grassroots governance and rural local self-governance in India. It is an engine of social and economic reforms oriented towards the development of rural landscapes in India. The Panchayati Raj system in India was introduced to give a fillip to the development of programmes launched in rural areas. The objective behind the emergence of Panchayats in India was to ensure active people’s participation in rural development and adopt an area-based approach to rural development. The debate on centralization versus decentralization in the pre-independence era marked the beginning of federalism in India (Naik & Kumar, 2016), with a strong center and active grassroots. Before the constitutionalization of Panchayati Raj Institutions, there were non-uniform structures of rural local governments existing in the country for centuries. The need for panchayats gained momentum during post-independence, with a constant emphasis on the need for greater devolution of powers and control over-centralization (Lakshmi, 2016). Several committees of the central and the state governments also recommended uniform structures for systematic decentralization in India. After constitutionalization, many reforms have been carried out for the effective function of panchayats and to strengthen grassroots governance. The National Panchayati Raj Day is celebrated on 24th April every year since 2010. At present, there are around 2.69 lakh panchayats and 31.88 lakh elected representatives in panchayats in India (Ministry of Panchayati Raj, n.d.).