Conlang Society
Mission Panchayat
Democracy Begins at the Grassroots
The largest local democracy on Earth, up close.
Format
Hardcover
Pages
312
Language
English
Release
2026
Editorial Note
A deeply reported inside-view of India's 260,000 gram panchayats — the largest local democracy on Earth, and the one Indian journalism least often visits.
§ Synopsis
Inside the book.
The Lok Sabha has 543 seats. India's gram panchayats have three million. This is where democracy actually begins.
Mission Panchayat is the definitive contemporary account of local self-government in India — reconstructed through year-long fieldwork across 40 gram panchayats in eight states, over 300 sarpanch interviews, ward-member biographies, and PRI-level budget analysis. It is a book about the elected office nobody covers, the women sarpanches nobody profiles, and the untouched twelve-thousand-crore experiment in devolution that already exists in the room next door.
§ Table of Contents
Chapters.
- 01Prelude — Where Democracy Actually Begins
- 02Book I — Forty Gram Panchayats
- 03Book II — The Women Sarpanches
- 04Book III — PRI Budgets & Devolution
- 05Book IV — The Ward Member
- 06Book V — The Next Twenty Years of Local Democracy
- 07Coda — The Room Next Door
§ IP Surface
More than a book.
Every CBH title is tracked across twelve revenue surfaces. This grid shows what’s already out, what’s in production, and what’s still available for licensing.
Book
Available
Ebook
Available
Audiobook
In Production
Comic
Not Yet Licensed
Course
Available
Film
Not Yet Licensed
Series
In Production
Translation
Available
Merchandise
Not Yet Licensed
Podcast
Available
Live Event
Available
Study Guide
Available
§ Press & Reviews
The critics say.
“The panchayat book Indian journalism has owed the country for a generation.”
— Down To Earth
“Field-first, data-strong, urgent.”
— The Wire — Rural Desk
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