UNIT 4

Local Self Government

It is the management of local affairs by such local bodies who have been elected by the local
people. The local self-Government includes both rural and urban government. It is the third
level of the government. There are 2 types of local government in operation – panchayatas in
rural areas and Municipalities in urban areas.

Rural Local Governments:

Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) is a system of rural local self-government in India. PRI was
constitutionalized through the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 to build democracy
at the grass roots level and was entrusted with the task of rural development in the country.
This act has added a new Part-IX to the Constitution of India. This part is entitled as ‘The
Panchayats’ and consists of provisions from Articles 243 to 243 O. In addition, the act has
also added a new Eleventh Schedule to the Constitution. This schedule contains 29 functional
items of the panchayats. It deals with Article 243-G. In its present form and structure PRI has
completed 30 years of existence. However, a lot remains to be done in order to further
decentralization and strengthen democracy at the grass root level.

Urban Local Governments:

Urban Local Governments were established with the purpose of democratic decentralisation.
There are eight types of urban local governments in India - Municipal Corporation,
Municipality, Notified Area Committee, Town Area Committee, Cantonment Board,
township, port trust, special purpose agency. At the Central level the subject of 'urban local
government' is dealt with by the following three Ministries. The Ministry of Urban
Development was created as a separate ministry in 1985 (now Ministry of Housing and
Urban Affairs).

Ministry of Defense in the case of cantonment boards. Ministry of Home Affairs in the case
of Union Territories. The 74th Amendment Act pertaining to urban local government was
passed during the regime of P.V. Narsimha Rao's government in 1992. It came into force on
1st June, 1993. Added Part IX -A and consists of provisions from articles 243-P to 243-ZG.
Added 12th Schedule to the Constitution. It contains 18 functional items of Municipalities
and deals with Article 243 W.

Local government is government at the village and district level.

Local government is about government closest to the common people. Local government is
about government that involves the day-to-day life and problems of ordinary citizens. Local
government believes that local knowledge and local interest are essential ingredients for
democratic decision making. They are also necessary for efficient and people-friendly
administration. The advantage of local government is that it is so near the people. It is
convenient for the people to approach the local government for solving their problems both
quickly and with minimum cost. So, local governments can be very effective in protecting the
local interests of the people.

73rd amendment provisions that are Compulsory:

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; A State Finance Commission is set up in each State
every five years.

Voluntary: 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.

74th amendment provisions that are Compulsory:

Constitution of nagar panchayats, municipal councils and municipal corporations in small,

big and very big urban areas respectively; Reservation of seats in urban local bodies for
Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes roughly in proportion to their population; Reservation
of seats for women up to one-third seats; The State Election Commission, constituted in order
to conduct elections in the Panchayati raj bodies (see 73rd Amendment) will also conduct
elections to the urban local selfgoverning bodies; The State Finance Commission, constituted
to deal with financial affairs of the panchayati raj bodies also looks into the financial affairs
of the local urban selfgoverning bodies; Tenure of urban local self-governing bodies is fixed
at five years and in case of earlier dissolution fresh elections are held within six months;

Voluntary: Giving voting rights to members of the Union and State Legislatures in these
bodies; Providing reservation for backward classes; Giving financial powers in relation to
taxes, duties, tolls and fees, etc; Making the municipal bodies autonomous and devolution of
powers to these bodies to perform some or all of the functions enumerated in the Twelfth
Schedule added to the Constitution through this Act and/or to prepare plans for economic
development.

Local Governments in Independent India

Local governments got a fillip after the 73rd and 74th Constitution Amendment Acts. But
even before that, some efforts in the direction of developing local government bodies had
already taken place. First in the line was the Community Development Programme in 1952,
which sought to promote people’s participation in local development in a range of activities.
In this background, a three-tier Panchayati Raj system of local government was
recommended for the rural areas. Some States (like Gujarat, Maharashtra) adopted the system
of elected local bodies around 1960.

But in many States those local bodies did not have enough powers and functions to look after
the local development. They were very much dependent on the State and central governments
for financial assistance. Many States did not think it necessary to establish elected local
bodies. In many instances, local bodies were dissolved and the local government was handed
over to government officers.

Many States had indirect elections to most local bodies. In many States, elections to the local
bodies were postponed from time to time.

Local bodies have very little funds of their own. The dependence of local bodies on the State
and central governments for financial support has greatly eroded their capacity to operate
effectively. While rural local bodies raise 0.24% of the total revenues collected, they account
for 4% of the total expenditure made by the government. So they earn much less than they
spend. That makes them dependent on those who give them grants.

73rd Amendment

Three Tier Structure All States now have a uniform three tier Panchayati Raj structure. At
the base is the ‘Gram Panchayat‘. A Gram Panchayat covers a village or group of villages.
The intermediary level is the Mandal (also referred to as Block or Taluka). These bodies are
called Mandal or Taluka Panchayats. The intermediary level body need not be constituted in
smaller States. At the apex is the Zilla Panchayat covering the entire rural area of the District.
The amendment also made a provision for the mandatory creation of the Gram Sabha. The
Gram Sabha would comprise all the adult members registered as voters in the Panchayat area.
Its role and functions are decided by State legislation.

Today there are more than 600 Zilla Panchayats, about 6,000 block or intermediary
Panchayats, and 2,40,000 Gram Panchayats in rural India and over 100 city Corporations,
1400 town Municipalities and over 2000 Nagar Panchayats in urban India. More than 32 lakh
members are elected to these bodies every five years.

Of these, at least 13 lakhs are women. In the State Assemblies and Parliament put together we
have less than 5000 elected representatives. With local bodies, the number of elected
representatives has increased significantly. The 73rd and 74th amendments have created
uniformity in the structures of Panchayati Raj and Nagarpalika institutions across the country.

The presence of these local institutions is by itself a significant achievement and would create
an atmosphere and platform for people’s participation in government. The provision for
reservation for women at the Panchayats and Nagarpalikas has ensured the presence of a
significant number of women in local bodies.

As this reservation is also applicable for the positions of Sarpanch and Adhyaksha, a large
number of women elected representatives have come to occupy these positions. There are at
least 200 women Adhyakshas in Zilla Panchayats, another 2000 women who are Presidents
of the block or taluka panchayats and more than 80,000 women Sarpanchas in Gram
Panchayats.

Elections

All the three levels of Panchayati Raj institutions are elected directly by the people. The term
of each Panchayat body is five years. If the State government dissolves the Panchayat before
the end of its five year term, fresh elections must be held within six months of such
dissolution.

This is an important provision that ensures the existence of elected local bodies. Before the
73rd amendment, in many States, there used to be indirect elections to the district bodies and
there was no provision for immediate elections after dissolution.

Reservations

It is important to note that these reservations apply not merely to ordinary members in
Panchayats but also to the positions of Chairpersons or ‘Adhyakshas‘ at all the three levels.
Further, reservation of one-third of the seats for women is not merely in the general category
of seats but also within the seats reserved for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and
backward castes. This means that a seat may be reserved simultaneously for a woman
candidate and one belonging to the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes.

The Constitutional amendments assigned as many as 29 subjects to the local governments.

All these subjects are related to functions linked to local welfare and development needs. The
experience with the functioning of local government in the past decade has shown that local
governments in India enjoy limited autonomy to perform the functions assigned to them.

Many States have not transferred most of the subjects to the local bodies. This means that the
local bodies cannot really function in an effective manner. Therefore, the entire exercise of
electing so many representatives becomes somewhat symbolic. Some people criticise the
formation of the local bodies because this has not changed the way in which decisions are
taken at the central and the State level. People at the local level do not enjoy much powers of
choosing welfare programmes or allocation of resources.

State Election Commissioners

The State government is required to appoint a State Election Commissioner who would be
responsible for conducting elections to the Panchayati Raj institutions. Earlier, this task was
per formed by the State administration which was under the control of the State government.
Now, the office of the State Election Commissioner is autonomous like the Election
Commissioner of India. However, the State Election Commissioner is an independent officer
and is not linked to nor is this officer under the control of the Election Commission of India.

State Finance Commission

The State government is also required to appoint a State Finance Commission once in five
years. This Commission would examine the financial position of the local governments in the
State. It would also review the distribution of revenues between the State and local
governments on the one hand and between rural and urban local governments on the other.
This innovation ensures that allocation of funds to the rural local governments will not be a
political matter.