Vol. 3, Issue 12, Part I (2017)

Abstract
The Gram Panchayat is primary and basic unit of Panchayat has become a solid foundation democracy in the country and powerful instrument not only in political but also in social and economic transformation. The present study was conducted in Shahpura block of Jabalpur district, Madhya Pradesh with the objective to find out the extent of role performance of Gram Panchayat members in rural development. In this study the data revealed that out of the total 120 Gram Panchayat members, 51.67% of the respondents had medium level of role performance followed by 30.00% had high role and 18.33% performed low role in rural development. The results of chi-square test showed that independent variables namely education qualification, caste, family size, occupation, social participation, size of land holding, annual income, contact with development agencies, time allocation for Panchyatat matters and attitude towards village development had significantly relationship with role performance of Gram Panchayat members in rural development. Further, age and family type had non-significant relationship with role performance of Gram Panchayat members in rural development.