Hindu Administrative Institutions c12.s1.69

c12.s1.69

There were also separate committees to look after the general affairs of the village as well as its particular affairs like the excavation of tanks and wells and watching them from being abused. There were committees in charge of gardens, forests, bridges, irrigation, drainage, roads, etc. These were then the smaller group organizations, the members of which were actuated by commonness of ideals. Their decision was often unanimous. And if it were not arrived at, it was left to the more matured and more experienced heads to decide. These were the elders of the village who frequently formed themselves into an arbitration board. These various committees were animated by a healthy spirit of co-operation and worked in unison. Co-operative enterprises and co-operative efforts in various fields of activity are mentioned in the several pages of *Arthaśāstra*. It is the principle of common-will for common good that underlies these various institutions. Kauṭalya recommends co-operation even for theatrical entertainments, public shows and exhibitions, not to speak of sacred sacrifices. Everybody was expected to contribute his mite towards the common object, and he who failed to do so, but at the same time enjoyed the benefit of the function, was entitled to the penalty of a fine.¹ Manu applies the same principles to caste, family and assembly.² To-day the failure of democracy as an ideal and as a form of government is writ large. Viscount Bryce has proved by facts and figures the shortcomings of modern democracies. This discontent with the existing methods of democratic government has given rise to a volume of political literature among which may be mentioned the *New State* by the talented writer and thinker M. P. Follett with an illuminating introduction by the late much lamented Lord Haldane. This book¹ examines the weak spots in modern democratic organizations, and suggests group associations and voluntary neighbourhood associations as the remedy. In Great Britain, United States of America and even other countries a beginning has been made in this direction, by a process of devolution and wider distribution of powers by the state. To-day local government unlike in ancient India is practically and wholly a creature of the Central Government. This is one reason why modern local government is such a poor effort.