Q.Rank justifications for local government (lower project cost / greater plan acceptability / people know their needs / difficult to contact State/national reps). On which was the Vengaivasal Gram Panchayat decision based?

The most fundamental justification for local government is that local people know their own area and needs best; the Vengaivasal decision was really about respecting the panchayat's own right to decide on land within its own community, closest to justifications (b) and (c). …

Ranking, with reasoning:

1. (c) People know their area, needs, problems and priorities best, and should discuss and decide collectively. This is the most fundamental justification, because it is the one that connects most directly to the actual definition of democracy the chapter uses throughout — meaningful participation and real decision-making by the people affected, not merely being administered efficiently by someone else.

2. (b) Locally made development plans have greater acceptability than plans made by government officers from outside. This follows closely from (c): if people understand their own needs, plans that incorporate that understanding are also more likely to be accepted and followed by the community itself.

3. (d) It is difficult for common people to contact their State or national representatives. This is a genuine, practical justification — access and convenience matter — but it is secondary, since it is really an argument about the difficulty of participation at higher levels, not, by itself, a reason local government produces better decisions.

4. (a) Government can complete projects at lower cost with local involvement. This is a real efficiency benefit, but it is the least fundamental of the four — it is a useful bonus of local government, not the core democratic reason for having it. …