Planning Theories and Techniques (ARN-657)

Assignment 8

73rd and 74th Constitution Amendment Acts

Introduction

In an attempt to undergo the Decentralization of power and to empower the

locals to be formally involved in self-governance, the Government of India
introduced the 73rd and 74th Constitution Amendment Acts in the year 1992.

The Indian subcontinent has a very old history of local self-governance in the
region. The political system of ‘Panchayati Raj’ has been prevalent in this
region since ages. This includes formation of a body of five experienced or wise
men of the village, headed by a ‘Sarpanch’ or ‘Pradhan’. The local community
chose them and respected and accepted them as their leaders. Any issues
within the community would be presented before the ‘panchas’ and they
would resolve it.

Mahatma Gandhi was a strong proponent of the system of local self-

governance and wanted the Political system of India to be constituted over the
framework of ‘Gram Swaraj’ or Local Self-Governance. However, the
constitution adopted by the Republic of India after independence did not
incorporate this ideology. It highly centralized the power with the Indian state,
with some powers vested in the hands of the states of India, thus forming a
two-tiered structure of federal governance.

In early 1990’s, the Government acknowledged the lack of reach of the two
tiered system of governance and realized the need of a third formal tier of
governance at the grassroots level. The local self-government bodies were pre-
existing, especially in the rural areas in the form of panchayats, but they had
no legal authority or powers. It was a social system adopted and practised by
the locals with no formal recognition from the government. With the
introduction of the 73rd and 74th Amendment acts in 1992, these bodies were
formalised. These acts performed two functions –

 Providing constitutional status of protection and recognition to the Local

Governments as the third tier of the Indian Government
 Formulating Local Government Legislation for each state
Both the 73rd and the 74th Amendments facilitated the introduction of local
government systems. The primary objectives of the acts include Democratic
Decentralization of power and promoting participatory governance at the
grassroots level. The 73rd Amendment deals with the formulation and
functioning of the Rural Local Bodies, while the 74th amendment deals with
that of the Urban Local Bodies.

Rural Local Governance

The Rural Local Bodies of government were constitutionalized by the 73rd

amendment act. This act added Part IX and Schedule 11 to the Constitution of
India. Schedule 11 consists of a list of functions that fall under the purview of
the rural local bodies. It contains 29 functional items in total.

Part IX explains the structure of Local Government at the rural level. The Rural
Local Government basically includes three levels of government bodies – at the
village, intermediate (block or taluk) and the district (zila) levels.

•Zila Parishad
Level 3
Level 3
•Panchayat Samiti
Level 2
Level 2 Level 2
•Gram Panchayat
Level 1
Level 1 Level 1 Level 1 Level 1

Hierarchy of institutions in the Rural Local Government System

Urban Local Governance

The Urban Local Bodies of government were constitutionalised by the 74th

amendment act. This act added part IX-A and schedule 12 to the Constitution
of India. Schedule 13 consists of a list of functions that fall under the purview
of the Urban Local Bodies. It contains 18 functional items in total.

The constitution defines three types of ULB’s – the Nagar Panchayats, the
Municipalities and the Municipal Corporations. Certain parameters defined in
the part IX-A of the Indian constitution determine whether a particular urban
area qualifies for a nagar panchayat, municipality or a corporation.
Basically, a new town, which is still in the process of transformation from a
rural area to an urban area gets a Nagar Panchayat, a smaller town or city gets
a Municipality and a large city is run by a Municipal Corporation.

Types of Urban Local Bodies

Nagar Panchayat Municipality Municipal Corporation

Elections and Financing

Another salient feature of these amendments was the constitution of the State
Election Commission and the State Finance Commission.

Each state was to have an Election Commission that would conduct elections
to the local government bodies at an interval of every 5 years. The
amendments have provisions to ensure that these elections are all inclusive,
providing adequate representation to all the sections of the society. There are
provisions for reservation for the SC,ST as well as adequate representation of
women in the members council as well as the heads of local bodies.

Each state was also directed to form a Finance Commission that would manage
the allocation of funds to the local bodies and decide on the taxes to be
collected by these local bodies. The aim was to make the Local Bodies capable
of working for the betterment of their respective regions.

The 73rd and 74th Amendments, thus, were a revolutionary step in the
decentralization of power. It brought governance closer to the people.
However, much more needs to be done to help the local bodies realize their
true potential and work in an informed and systematic manner towards the
development of their respective regions.

- Manan Monga
(M.U.R.P. Semester 1)

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References :
 The Constitution (74th Amendment Act), 1992
 The Constitution (73rd Amendment Act), 1992