1 | LOCAL SELF GOVERNMENTS

ASSIGNMENT

SUBMITTED TO SUBMITTED BY

ANUPAMA TEACHER VISHNU.B

LECTURER IN SOCIAL SCIENCE OPTION: SOCIAL SCIENCE

FMTC MYLAPURE FMTC MYLAPURE

2 | LOCAL SELF GOVERNMENTS

LOCAL SELF

GOVERNMENTS

INDEX

content Page no

1 Introduction 4-5

3 | LOCAL SELF GOVERNMENTS

2 Need of Lsg’s 5 3 Decentralization in India 5-6

4 73rd and 74th acts 6-8 5 Organizational structure 9-11

6 conclusion 12 7 reference 13

INTRODUCTION

Democracy is the basic core of India’s Socio – Political and

Economic setup. Democracy means the rule of the people where

people can participate in the administrative process of the nation

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without any fear or discrimination. India has the largest democratic

set up in the world in which more than hundred crores of people

participate in the political and economic system of the nation.

Transferring power to the people is the back bone of Indian

democracy. Democracy ensures equality, justice, and freedom to the

people in order to express their will in nation making. Democracy is

accepted world – widely as the best form of government.

People’s Planning is an ideal concept in every sense of the

term. The aim of planning in India is rapid economic growth,

abolition of poverty and unemployment, reduction of inequalities,

industrialization and establishment of a socialist pattern of society.

The people’s involvement in planning process is

through Panchayati Raj Institutions. The Panchayati Raj Institutions

installed in the State have three tiers viz., the Gram Panchayat, Block

panchayat, and the District Panchayat and the Nagarapalika

Institutions – Municipalities And Corporation.

NEED OF LSGs

Local self government stands close to the people and solve the

problems of common people speedily and closely. It effectively

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protects the interests of the people. Decentralization and planning

are implemented mainly through the local government.

S. M. Vijayanand, Principal Secretary, Department of Local Self

Governments of Kerala(2002) opined that ‘ Kerala was a pioneer in

big- bang decentralization, a path breaker in methodology and as a

result the quantum of corruption has come down to the tune of 10%

at the Panchayat level vis-à-vis the PWD construction costs.

DECENTRALISATION IN INDIA

Decentralization is the transfer of decision making powers

to more directly concerned, lower levels of Government and

administrative authority. The interest in decentralization as a

mechanism for transforming society is not new. In the second half of

the twentieth century, practically every country has experimented

with some form of decentralization or local government reform with

varying aims and outcomes.

OBJECTIVES OF DECENTRALIZATION

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Generally the objectives of decentralization as put forward by

the countries are:

Promotion of a more balanced development in the country

Design of more realistic projects and programme which take

into account local potentials and constraints

More effective co- ordination of development activities at

various spatial levels through disaggregation of planning

functions.

Strengthening of local political and increasing people’s

participation in development

Boosted mobilization of local resources

73RD AND 74TH CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

The history of panchayati raj in India, on April 24, 1993,

73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992 came into

force to provide constitutional status to the PRIs are popularly

known as the Panchayati Raj and Nagarapalika Constitution

Amendment Act . The Amendment of 1993 added a new path

relating to panchayat in the Constitution under the Article 243 to

provide for the following.

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Grama Sabha in Villages

Direct election to all seats

Reservation to SC/ST

1/3 reservation to women

Devolution of powers and responsibilities by state legislature

upon panchayat.

To levy and collect appropriate taxes, duties, tolls and fees.

Setting up of a finance commission

The passage of the 73rd and 74th Amendments marks a

new era in the federal democratic setup of the country and provides

a constitutional status to the PRIs. Consequent upon the enactment

of the Acts, almost all the states and union territories except Jammu

& Kashmir NCT Delhi and Uttaranchal have enacted legislation.

All the States except Arunachal Pradesh, NCT Delhi and

Pondicherry have held election. As a result, 2, 32,278 panchayats at

village level; 6022 panchayats at intermediate level and 535

panchayats at district level have been constituted in the country.

These panchayats are being manned by about 29.2 lacks elected

representatives of panchayats at all level. This is the broadest

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representative base that exists in any country of the world –

Developed or under developed.

Organizational Structure and responsibility of

Local Bodies in Kerala: - 3 Tier System

Grama Panchayats

At the bottom level, there is the Grama Panchayat.According to

the Kerala Panchayati Raj Act, 1994; there should be a Grama

Panchayat for a village or a group of villages. The total number of the

members of Grama Panchayat will be decided on the basis of

population .It varies from panchayat to panchayat. All members are

elected directly by the people. A fixed number of seats should be

reserved for SC/STs depending on their population. One – third of

the total seats of the Grama Panchayat should be reserved for

women. The members of the Grama Panchayat will elect its

president and vice president from along themselves. They have close

interaction with the people at mass level. They are entrusted to

prepare the blue print of the plan incorporating the assessed needs

of the area.

The Grama Panchayat is the ‘Constitutional Local Body’

functioning at the village level. According to the Panchayati Raj Act,

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Grama Panchayat as to summon the Grama Sabha consisting of the

entire voters at the ward level at least twice in a year. The elected

representative of the ward has to attend the Grama Sabha and

collect the proposals of the needs raised by the people. He is

answerable to the Grama Sabha to the activities of the panchayat .

Role of Grama Sabha:-

The Grama Sabha is the most important institutional mechanism

for people’s participation in decentralization. The sponsors of the

People’s plan fruitfully utilized this constitutional arrangement for

drafting the blue print of the people’s plan at the lowest level, the

Grama Sabha. The Grama Sabha is made the soul of the Panchayati

Raj Institutions in the states. It will approve the annual budget and

the plans of developmental programmes, annual statement of

accounts seek clarification from the President or members about the

works undertaken by the panchayats.

Block Panchayat

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Section 8 of the Kerala Panchayati Raj Act states that

there should be a block panchayat at the block level. It occupies the

middle position between the Grama Panchayat and the District

Panchayat. A fixed number of seats of the block panchayat should

be reserved for SC/STs depending upon their population in the block

panchayat area. The members of the block panchayat will elect its

president and vice – president from themselves. At the block

panchayat level, another expert committee and the elected

representatives are entrusted to codify the draft of the People’s Plan

prepared by the Grama Panchayat under their jurisdiction. The State

Government appoints an expert committee from time to time at

block level.

District Panchayat:-

There are 14 District Panchayats in the State. These District

Panchayats have to codify draft the district level plan document by

reviewing plan documents prepared and submitted by their

respective Block Panchayats. At the district level, they have to

prepare a single district plan document by codifying the entire block

level documents. There are municipalities and municipal

corporations also. Therefore, at the district level, codified single plan

document has two corollas, one meant for Panchayati Raj System

and other for the Nagarapalika System. For this purpose, a District

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Level Planning Committee was formulated in the monitoring phase

comprising official and non – official experts. The District Level

Planning Committee should be a scientific one which entrusts

priority only on the basis of viability of project without any

reservation including political.

3 TIERS

GRAMA PANCHAYAT DISTRICT PANCHAYAT

BLOCK PANCHAYAT

CONCLUSION

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Today local governance is seen as an integral part of

our federal system and involves devolution of

functions, funds and functionaries to panchayats and

other local governments. A study among major States

in India leads one firm conclusion that no state except

Kerala has devolved powers and resources. So it is very

important to make the local governments as self

sufficient for ensuring democracy and make the dream

of our Father of The Nation into reality – self sufficient

local government.

REFERENCES

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Oomen M.A : Deepening Decentralised Governance In Rural

India: Lessons from The People’s Plan Initiatives Of

Kerala (2004)

Vijayanand S.M : Status of Panchayati Raj in Kerala (2002)

Biju M.R : Decentralization – An Indian Experience.(2008)

Mohanan .S : Resource mobilization in people’s planning:

a case study( 2001)

Aiyer Mani Shankar : ‘Panchayati Raj: the way forwar‘,Economic

And Political Weekly 3 August, (2002)

corrected by

Anupama M R

Lr in social science