A gram panchayat (village council) is the grassroots-level of panchayati raj system in India at the village or small-town level, and has a sarpanch as its elected head.

The failed attempts to deal with local matters at the national level caused, in 1992, the reintroduction of panchayats for their previously used purpose as an organisation for local self-governance. There are about 250,000 gram panchayats in India, that are being gigabit-broadband enabled under the BharatNet and Digital India initiative.

Gram panchayats are panchayats at base level in panchayat raj institutions (or PRIs)

The gram panchayat is divided into wards and each ward is represented by a Ward Member, also referred to as a Panch or Panchayat Member, who is directly elected by the villagers. The panchayat is chaired by the president of the village, known as a Sarpanch. The term of the elected representatives is five years. The Secretary of the panchayat is a non-elected representative, appointed by the state government, to oversee panchayat activities.

- extracted from Gram panchayat, Wikipedia as on 31st December 2017