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Local Government

Growth of Local Self- Government in India

The term "local self-government" originated when the British regime ruled our country. Gradually, the British regime took the decision to engage and associate Indians in administering local affairs which contributed more towards the process of local self government for the people of our country. With the enactment of the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 and the Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992, local self-governments, both rural and urban, have been given constitutional recognition in our country and it is the third stratum of government, the first two being the Central and the State governments.

In the pre-Independence period, Indian villages were organised in a way that enabled them to maintain social order through Panchayats. The informal institution of panchayat was responsible for maintaining and governing village society in accordance with the socio-political norms of their times. During the British period, the Montague-Chelmsford report in 1919 made local self-government a "transferred subject" under the scheme of dyarchy. During this period, establishment of the village panchayat in a number of provinces was the major achievement. When India got Independence, the main question which came up was whether panchayat should have a place in the new Constitution or not? Indian Constitution didn't mention the panchayat of the Gandhian model. The Constituent Assembly didn't accept the Gandhian proposal and stressed that stability, unity and economic progress demanded a more centralized government. But, with the heralding of a new era, India's commitment towards local self-govt and grass-root democracy stood upright. In fact, it was the inner urge to ensure all round development of India's political leadership that committed the government to implement the decentralization process thorugh the Panchayati Raj framework. Ideologically the initiation of the panchayati raj system drew its inspiration from Gandhiji's firm conviction that independence must begin at the grass-root level and thus panchayati raj was synonyms with swaraj or self-rule to Gandhi.

Thus, the new Constitution enforced on January 26, 1950 gave Constitution al importance to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) including them in Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSPs) under Article-40 of the Constitution. But it abstained from giving constitutional status to it.

After independence, the country adopted the five year plan for the economic growth and prosperity of rural India. To ensure growth and prosperity in rural India, the Community Development Project was launched in 1952, which was the biggest rural reconstruction scheme to fight against rural poverty, hunger, disease and ignorance. The First Five Year plan envisaged the establishment of 500 community centres.

In 1953, the National Extension Service was also launched, but the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee (1957) found that people's participation was not there and the village panchayats were not even involved. The committee therefore, recommended the devolution of development and decentralization of machinery of administration with adequate delegation of power to the Panchayati Raj Institutions. The committee recommended three-tier system of rural local government namely, the Village Panchayat at the local level i.e. village, the Panchayat Samiti at the Block level and Zila Parishad at the District level. Rajasthan was the first State to introduce the three-tier panchayat framework. The other States of the Indian union also gradually launched the system. This heralded a new phase in India's federal democratic polity. The Panchayati Raj Institutions particularly, the gram panchayats known as tiny-legislatures worked very well till the mid sixties. However, in the wake of many problems confronting the PRIs including absence of adequate financial autonomy and holding of irregular elections.

To fine tune the working of these PRIs, the government appointed various committee from time to time. First to come was the Sadiq Ali Committee in 1964 to oversee the progress in decentralization and grass-root democracy in Rajasthan. The next major committee constituted was Ashok Mehta Committee (1978) appointed by the Janata government in 1977 to assign meaningful role to Panchayati Raj Institutions and revitalized them. The committee recommended two tier system of panchayati raj system viz, the Mandal Panchayats and the Zila Parishad. The recommendations given by the committee evoked mixed response from different states. Some states were not eager to introduce panchayat system based on the recommendations made by Ashok Mehta committee, while States like Kerela, Karnataka, Maharashtra and West Bengal came forward to establish panchayats at local levels.

In the 1980s due to expansion of anti-poverty programme and creation of district rural development agency (DRDA) and other organizations for rural development purposes at lower level, it was required to integrate panchayati raj system with development programmes. As a result, C.H. Hanumanth Rao Working Group on district planning was set up in 1983. There after G.V.K. Rao Committee was setup in 1985 to review the existing administrative arrangements for rural development and poverty alleviation programmes. The committee recommended the need of regular elections to the PRIs and strengthening of Zila Parishad.

Another committee under the chairmanship of distinguished Jurist L.M. Singhvi was set up in 1986 to deal with the financial aspects of these bodies. The committee recommended the reorganization of the villages to make village panchayats more viable. The committee recommended that the panchayat should be made financially viable by combining 2-3 villages in one panchayat. Similarly, the Sarkaria Commission on Centre-State Relations in 1988 too observed that most of the local self-governing bodies were not functioning efficiently and effectively. The Thungan Committee also made exhaustive recommendations on this account. The committee strongly ecommended that Panchayati Raj Institutions should be constitutionally recognized and timely and regular elections to these bodies be ensured.

During the time of Rajiv Gandhi government, attempts were made to reconstruct local governments, both rural and urban. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi took the initiative to amend the Constitution of India. In the year 1987and 1988, the Prime Minister held a series of conferences and workshops where district collectors were summoned and the theme was on "Responsive Administration". These conferences decided to decentralize functions powers and authority to local government so that it might become strong and vibrant. Rajiv Gandhi introduced 64th Constitutional amendment Bill in 1989. But the Bill did not come into effect because of the fall of his Ministry. Finally the P.V.Narasimha Rao government introduced Panchayati Raj system in India through the Constitution(73rd Amendment)Act in 1992.On on 24th April 1993 the Constitution(73rd Amendment)Act, 1992 came into force. It was a red-letter day for the Panchayati Raj system of our country. It gave constitutional status to the Panchayati Raj Institutions by inserting Part IX and adding the Eleventh Schedule to the Constitution. Under this Act, a Panchayat has been defined as an institution of self government constituted under Article 243B of the Constitution for the rural areas. It provides that there shall be constituted in every State, panchayats at the village level, intermediate and district levels. However, panchayats at the intermediate level may not be constituted in a State having a population not exceeding 20 lakh. Accordingly, a three-tier structure of Panchayati Raj Institutions was put in place. It aims to strengthen the democratic base of the country as it provided constitutional status to Gram Sabha, a body consisting of persons registered in the electoral rolls relating to a village comprised within the area of panchayat at the village level. The Gram Sabha may exercise such powers and perform such functions at the village level as the legislature of a state may by law provide. The Act provides for regular elections to PRIs every five years; proportional seat reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and reservation of not less than 33% seats for women. Under the 1993 Act a Gram Sabha means a body consisting of persons registered in the electoral rolls relating to a village comprised within the area of panchayat at the village level. The Gram Sabha may exercise such powers and perform such functions at the village level as the legisla ture of a state may by law provide.

The National Democratic Alliance(NDA) Government headed by Prime Minister A.B.Vajpayee convened a two day long conference of all heads of panchayats of the country in Delhi form April 5-6, 2002 to have a first hand information about the problems of Panchayati Raj Institutions in India. He underlined the need for strengthening the grass-root level institutions by giving more power to PRIs.

The Panchayati Raj Act constitutes a major milestone in the history of rural local self government as it provides political and administrative decentralization and devolution of resources and powers to local people.

(Source- Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University, established under the provision of the KKHSOU, Act’ 2005 enacted by the Govt. of Assam)

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