Aundh Experiment - After Ratification

After Ratification

After ratification, the state of Aundh was reorganized from the ground up, with local administration put in the hands of village panchayats with five elected representatives, voted into office through new voting rights given to all adults. Each panchayat chose a president, who represented them at regional taluka councils. Each taluka council chose a president and two representatives to a Central Assembly presided over by the raja. In spite of the Raja's role as leader of the Assembly, responsibility for regional government was, for all practical purposes, in the hands of the people. The panchayats were given responsibility for all matters relating to education, welfare, justice, water supply, sanitation, construction and maintenance of roads and public buildings, and all other activities relating to the health safety, and social and economic wellbeing of the villagers.

Between 1939 and 1945, twenty-seven new primary schools were established, making more than one per village. In addition, fourteen middle schools and three high schools were built and staffed, with the total number of teachers more than doubling. Adult education also saw a doubling of expenditure.

Several Indian National Congress leaders from Maharashtra became actively involved in the Aundh Experiment in the 1940s, including Tatya Shikhare, Annasaheb Sahasrabudhe, and Nana and Bhau Dharmadhikari. When Achutrao Patwardan went into hiding to avoid arrest during the Quit India movement in 1946, he used Aundh villages as his base of operations. He went as far as adopting the language of the Aundh State Constitution, declaring that he and his band of freedom fighters were "Prati Sakar"—"self-governing and independent of the Central Authority."

The Aundh Experiment in village-level self-rule endured until Indian independence in 1947, when all of the princely states were merged into the new Republic of India.