Which Prime Minister of India declared the First National Panchayati Raj Day?

National Panchayati Raj Day is observed every year on 24 April by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, marking the anniversary of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act's enforcement, which gave constitutional status to the three-tier Panchayati Raj system — village, intermediate (block), and district panchayats — as the framework for rural local self-government in India.

The very first National Panchayati Raj Day was inaugurated on 24 April 2010 by the then Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, at a function held in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. From the following year onward, the Ministry made 24 April an annual observance, which continues to the present day.

• Indira Gandhi's tenure is remembered for programmes such as the Twenty-Point Programme and rural anti-poverty drives of the 1970s, not for this particular panchayat observance.

• Jawaharlal Nehru is instead the Prime Minister credited with LAUNCHING the original Panchayati Raj system, at Nagaur in Rajasthan in 1959 — an important but separate milestone from the National Panchayati Raj Day being asked about here.

• Rajiv Gandhi's government is remembered for attempting to give panchayats constitutional status through the 64th Constitutional Amendment Bill of 1989, but that bill lapsed in the Rajya Sabha without becoming law.

Hence, the Prime Minister who declared the First National Panchayati Raj Day is Manmohan Singh.