Local bodies in India are classified as rural or urban local bodies. Rural local bodies called panchayats govern villages and rural areas, while urban local bodies called municipalities govern towns and cities. There is a three-tier structure for rural local self-government comprising village, intermediate, and district panchayats. Urban local self-government includes municipal corporations, municipalities, and town panchayats. The 73rd amendment to the Indian constitution made panchayati raj institutions mandatory in all states by establishing a three-tier structure to be directly elected and reserving seats for underrepresented groups.
Local bodies in India are classified as rural or urban local bodies. Rural local bodies called panchayats govern villages and rural areas, while urban local bodies called municipalities govern towns and cities. There is a three-tier structure for rural local self-government comprising village, intermediate, and district panchayats. Urban local self-government includes municipal corporations, municipalities, and town panchayats. The 73rd amendment to the Indian constitution made panchayati raj institutions mandatory in all states by establishing a three-tier structure to be directly elected and reserving seats for underrepresented groups.
Local bodies in India are classified as rural or urban local bodies. Rural local bodies called panchayats govern villages and rural areas, while urban local bodies called municipalities govern towns and cities. There is a three-tier structure for rural local self-government comprising village, intermediate, and district panchayats. Urban local self-government includes municipal corporations, municipalities, and town panchayats. The 73rd amendment to the Indian constitution made panchayati raj institutions mandatory in all states by establishing a three-tier structure to be directly elected and reserving seats for underrepresented groups.
Local bodies in India are classified as rural or urban local bodies. Rural local bodies called panchayats govern villages and rural areas, while urban local bodies called municipalities govern towns and cities. There is a three-tier structure for rural local self-government comprising village, intermediate, and district panchayats. Urban local self-government includes municipal corporations, municipalities, and town panchayats. The 73rd amendment to the Indian constitution made panchayati raj institutions mandatory in all states by establishing a three-tier structure to be directly elected and reserving seats for underrepresented groups.
Local bodies are institutions of the local self governance, which look after the
administration of an area or small community such as villages, towns, or cities.
The Local bodies in India are broadly classified into two categories. The local bodies constituted for local planning, development and administration in the rural areas are referred as Rural Local Bodies (Panchayats) and the local bodies, which are constituted for local planning, development and administration in the urban areas, are referred as Urban Local Bodies (Municipalities).
The Rural LSG (Local Self Government) comprises Village Panchayats,
Intermediate Panchayats and District Panchayats, which are also popularly
named as the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in India. The urban LSG
comprises Municipal Corporation, Municipalities and Town Panchayats.
Local Self-Government
Rural LSGs Urban LSGs
1) District Panchayat (A top tier) 1) Municipal Corporations
2) Intermediate Panchayat (A Intermediate tier) 2) City Municipal Councils 3) Village Panchayat (A bottom tier) 3) Town Panchayat 4) Notified Area Committee 5) Cantonment Board
Objectives of Rural Development:
The specific objectives of rural development are: Raising the standard of living of people in rural areas, Alleviating poverty in rural areas and improving the quality of life of the people, Development of both farming and non-farming activities so as to generate gainful employment, Changing the attitudes of the rural people towards transformation of village community, Provision of social infrastructure such as drinking water, health-care, education, sanitation, housing, road, electrification, etc, and Maximum utilization of local resources without adversely affecting the environment. Recommendations of the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee and the Ashok Mehta Committee:
The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee (1957) suggested ways of democratic
decentralisation in a three-tier structure of Panchayati raj. This meant that Panchayati raj should be set up at three levels. They should be furnished with sufficient powers and resources. These three tiers of Panchayati raj are:
Zila Parishad at district level;
Panchayat samiti at intermediate or block level;
Village or Gram Panchayat at village level.
In this scheme, Panchayat samiti was to be the most important. These three bodies were interlinked as the lower body was represented in the higher body through its chairperson. Panchayati raj of the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee pattern was first introduced by Rajasthan in 1959. Later, other States also followed. Initially, both the people and the states were enthusiastic about Panchayati Raj. However Panchayati raj institutions began to decline very soon owing to government indifference and political interference.
The Ashok Mehta Committee set up by the government to review
Panchayati raj submitted its report in 1978. This Committee felt that Panchayati raj had inculcated political awareness among rural masses. However, it had not been successful in carrying out economic development. Unlike the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee, the Asoka Mehta Committee suggested a two tier structure of Panchayati raj.
These two-tiers were to be:
zila parishad at district level;
Mandal Panchayat, an administrative unit between village Panchayat
and Panchayat samiti. In the two-tier system, the main emphasis was laid on zila parishad and not on Panchayat samiti as in the case of the earlier committee report. However the recommendations of the Ashok Mehta Committee could not be implemented due to the collapse of the Janata Government in 1980.
The States like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu did not hold elections to panchayats for long. At the same time, many new agencies were set up by the Central Government like -District Rural Development Agency, to take up development programmes in collaboration with the State Governments, with panchayats having no role in these programmes. They themselves hardly had any funds to take up development projects in the villages.
Salient Features of 73 rd Amendment
The 73rd amendment to the Constitution enacted in 1992 made statutory
provisions for the establishment, empowerment and functioning of Panchayati Raj institutions. Some provisions of this amendment are binding on the States while others have been left to be decided by respective State Legislatures at their discretion. The salient features of this amendment are as follows:
Some of the compulsory requirements of the new law are:
Organisation of Gram Sabhas;
creation of a three-tier Panchayati Raj Structure at the Zila, Block and
Village levels;
almost all posts, at all levels to be filled by direct elections;
minimum age for contesting elections to the Panchayati Raj institutions be twenty-one years;
the post of Chairman at the Zila and Block levels should be filled by indirect election;
there should be reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled
Tribes in Panchayats, in proportion to their population, and for women in Panchayats up to one-third seats;
State Election Commission to be set up in each State to conduct
elections to Panchayati Raj institutions;
the tenure of Panchayati Raj institutions is five years, if dissolved
earlier, fresh elections to be held within six months; and
A State Finance Commission is set up in each State every five years.
Some of the provisions which are not binding on the States, but only guidelines are:
Giving voting rights to members of the Central and State legislatures in
these bodies; providing reservation for backward classes; and The Panchayati Raj institutions should be given financial powers in relation to taxes; levy fees etc. and efforts shall be made to make Panchayats autonomous bodies. Composition of Panchayats The Panchayati Raj system, as established in accordance with the 73rd Amendment, is a three-tier structure based on direct elections at all the three tiers: (i) village, (ii) intermediate and (iii) district.
