Republic Day 2026: Democracy begins at the last mile

Every Republic Day, the parade on Rajpath reminds us of the strength of the Indian State. But the strength of the Indian Republic is tested elsewhere—in village meetings, municipal wards, forest hamlets, and neighbourhoods where citizens negotiate power, resources, and dignity every day. As India marks its 77th Republic Day on 26 January 2026, the occasion invites reflection not only on constitutional ideals but on how democracy is actually practised in everyday life. Republic Day reminds us that sovereignty rests with the people. Yet its real test lies in villages, towns, and neighbourhoods where citizens encounter the state most directly. If the roots of Indian democracy are to be deepened and renewed, they must be strengthened through empowered local governance institutions.

India today has one of the largest grassroots democratic systems in the world: over 260,000 Gram Panchayats, more than 4,000 urban local bodies, and around 3.2 million elected representatives at the local level—nearly half of them women. No other tier of government places so many elected representatives in such close proximity to citizens’ daily concerns: drinking water, sanitation, housing, livelihoods, local markets, primary education, health services, and the management of natural resources. These institutions are the Republic’s first responders and its most immediate democratic interface.

Yet, despite constitutional recognition through the 73rd and 74th Amendments, and the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA)—which empowers ‘Gram Sabhas in Scheduled Areas to govern natural resources, safeguard customary practices, and protect community rights’, the local governments remain the weakest link in India’s federal system. They are closest to the people, but farthest from real authority over finances, functionaries, and planning. This paradox goes to the heart of India’s democratic deficit.

Patel: A grassroots leader before a national icon

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is remembered primarily as the architect of India’s political integration. But before he became the ‘Iron Man’, Patel was shaped by municipal governance. His public life began in the Ahmedabad Municipality, where he served as a councillor from 1917 and later as Chairman between 1924 and 1928. During a devastating plague outbreak, Patel personally supervised sanitation and relief work, earning public trust through decisive local action.

Patel often remarked that administration is best learnt in municipalities rather than Parliament. For him, democracy was not an abstract idea but a lived practice—tested where governance touches people’s lives. This grounding explains his conviction that national unity must be built on trust between citizens and the state, a trust forged most effectively at the local level.

Gandhi’s Gram Swaraj: Democracy, justice, and sustainability

Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of Gram Swaraj placed villages at the moral centre of Indian democracy. He envisaged villages as ‘little republics’—self-reliant, participatory communities where decisions emerged from the Gram Sabha. Gram Swaraj was also deeply ecological. Gandhi argued for local control over land, water, forests, and livelihoods, warning that extractive development would intensify inequality and environmental degradation.

In today’s context of climate change, groundwater depletion, and fragile rural livelihoods, Gandhi’s insistence on decentralised stewardship of natural resources appears prescient. Sustainable development cannot be delivered through centralised blueprints alone; it requires empowered local institutions capable of managing commons, resolving conflicts, and balancing equity with ecological limits.

Nehru and the functional architecture of decentralisation

Jawaharlal Nehru brought institutional clarity to the idea of decentralisation. In his landmark Nagaur speech of 1959, inaugurating Panchayati Raj in Rajasthan, he distinguished the roles of local institutions: Gram Panchayats were to manage local administration and public goods, while co-operatives were to lead economic development. This separation reflected his pragmatic understanding that political democracy at the grassroots needed to be supported by economic organisation.

Nehru’s emphasis on co-operatives was particularly significant in a young nation struggling with poverty and food insecurity. He recognised that without collective economic institutions, local self-government would remain weak and dependent.

Patel’s inclusive synthesis: Co-operatives as schools of democracy

Patel’s enduring contribution was to synthesise Gandhi’s ethical vision with Nehru’s institutional pragmatism. He championed co-operatives not merely as economic entities, but as ‘schools of democracy’—spaces where ordinary citizens could practise transparency, accountability, and collective decision-making. Institutions such as the Kheda District Co-operative Society and later Amul demonstrated how democratic values could be embedded in everyday economic life.

For Patel, inclusive democracy required more than periodic elections. It needed everyday institutions through which farmers, workers, and marginalised groups could exercise agency. Co-operatives, self-help groups, and producer collectives thus became crucial bridges between economic empowerment and democratic participation.

Local governance, social justice, and development goals

Republic Day also demands renewed attention to the Constitution’s promise of justice—social, economic, and political. Local governance institutions are uniquely positioned to address entrenched inequalities of caste, gender, and class. Reservations in Panchayats and municipalities have transformed the social profile of political leadership, but representation has not always translated into substantive power.

Progress on poverty reduction, health, education, gender equality, and environmental sustainability—earlier framed as the Millennium Development Goals and now as the Sustainable Development Goals—ultimately depends on local action. This is especially evident in tribal regions, where PESA-recognised Gram Sabhas are constitutionally mandated to manage forests, water bodies, minor minerals, and land in accordance with traditional and indigenous practices—offering India a powerful but underutilised model of democratic environmental governance. Climate resilience, water security, waste management, and sustainable livelihoods cannot be achieved without empowered Panchayats and municipalities that plan in local contexts and are accountable to their communities.

Republic Day 2026: Renewing the democratic compact

As India commemorates Republic Day in 2026, the case for strong local governance has never been more urgent. Rapid urbanisation, climate vulnerability, agrarian distress, and widening inequalities demand governance systems that are responsive, participatory, and trusted. This requires moving beyond token decentralisation towards genuine devolution of functions, finances, and functionaries.

Empowered Gram Sabhas, accountable municipalities, functional District Planning Committees, and vibrant co-operatives can together renew the Republic from below. This was the shared—though differently articulated—conviction of Gandhi, Nehru, and Patel.

The most meaningful tribute to the Constitution on Republic Day is not ceremonial display, but the everyday practice of democracy where people live and work. Strengthening local governance is not merely an administrative reform; it is a constitutional imperative. Only by deepening democracy at the grassroots can India ensure that the Republic remains not just sovereign, but just, sustainable, and inclusive.

The author is a development practitioner with over four decades of experience in participatory development and governance in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh.

Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth