"Democracy requires that everyone, man or women, should realise his or her own responsibility, that is what is meant by Panchayati Raj."

            "Independence must begin at the bottom. Thus, every village will be a republic or Panchayat having full powers. It follows, therefore, that every village has to be self-sustained and capable of managing its affairs even to the extent of defending itself against the whole world. It will be trained and prepared to perish in the attempt to defend itself against any onslught from without. Thus, ultimately, it is the individual who is the unit..... In this structure composed of innumerable villages there will be ever widening, never-ascending circles. Life will not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom. But it will be a oceanic circle whose centre will be the individual always ready to perish for the village, the later ready to perish for the circle of villages, till at last the whole becomes one life composed of individuals, never aggressive in their arrogance but ever humble, sharing the majesty of the oceanic circle of which they are integral units. Therefore, the outmost circumference will not wield power to crush the inner circle but will give strength to all within and derive its own strength from it."

- Mahatma Gandhi