38 SOCIAL SCIENTIST ponsibility for the formulation and execution of development programmes was transferred to these institutions. The panchayati raj, however, could not produce a dramatic restructuring of rural power. In these institutions, political power continued to be dominated by landlords, usurers, rich peasants and traders, who normally belonged to the upper castes. The rural rich fully utilized the opportunity for controlling the panchayats either directly enjoying the power or indirectly through their "yes-men." They deliberately used the caste and faction lobbies which were under their control. Securing legitimate powers, they could preserve and expand their economic control. Many village leadership studies have shown that it is the economically dominant and high caste families which control the leadership.8 A recent study of pane hay at leadership in 15 evaluation blocks spread over 14 states revealed that 88.1 percent of members of panchayats and 95.7 percent of panchayat presidents (sarapanchs) are landholders, 32.5 percent of members and 89.4 percent of presidents belonged to rich families, and 69.8 percent of members and 97.9 percent of presidents came from high castes.9 The rural poor, notwithstanding their numerical strength, rarely succeed in occupying elective positions. The few middle peasant or middle class representations too act as proxy to the landed interest. Link with Ruling Class It is indeed ironical that a cruelly exploited rural society, more than half of whom live below the subsistence level (Rs 20 per month at 1960-61 prices), should have been thought to get more or less equal opportunities for leadership in the face of the dominant landlords and moneylenders. Never does an exploiting class voluntarily renounce its power and its capacity to exploit.10 The pane hayati raj institutions have consolidated the economically and socially powerful rural classes and linked them to the ruling class in India. Unfortunately, the peasant movements are not powerful enough in many states to alter the political picture of the rural areas and to accelerate the process of decentralization. The illogical hopes of maintaining panchayati raj as a ^politics-free zone"have dashed against the concrete reality. An elaborate network of patronage has developed, penetrating deep into the villages. Vote-nexus between local level leadership with that of political leaders at the state and national level has been established. In elections, the top leaders increasingly rely upon the local leaders who happen to be in close association with the economically and socially powerful rural rich.11 The system of ^decen"