Divya says a Panchayat has no real power — it just follows the state government's orders

Why

Divya has noticed a real fact — the Panchayat is one level in a larger system that also has state and central governments — and jumped from 'part of a system' to 'has no power of its own'. Those are different things. The Panchayat has its OWN members, elected directly by the villagers and not appointed from above. It has its OWN money, some raised locally and some given as its share. And it has its OWN list of subjects to look after — village roads and lanes, drinking water, drains and sanitation, street lighting, the local school building, and more — with those decisions taken in the Gram Sabha. Test it: a Gram Sabha can decide to spend its funds on repairing a particular lane or hand-pump this year, a choice made in the village, not sent down as an order. Her friend is right: a Panchayat has its own elected members, its own funds, and its own subjects — being part of a bigger system is not the same as having no power of your own.