Local Governance & Panchayati Raj: 73rd & 74th Amendments Explained

[music] Hello everyone, welcome to week six of our muk where we will talk about local

governance and panchiati raj institutions. Let us begin by first looking at the

concept of local governance. Local governance in India often called the third tire of government was

institutionalized through major constitutional changes in 1992. Now local governance is divided into

punchi raj institutions or PRI for rural areas and municipalities for urban areas. So local governance refers to

decentralized administration at the grassroots level aimed at democratic participation, efficient service

delivery, inclusive development and accountability and transparency. In the preconstitution times, it was

mentioned also in ancient texts as the rigid sabha and samidi. We know that there are also village

communities during the Morian period. Now the importance of PRI is that they strengthen grassroots democracy,

participatory development, political empowerment of women and schedule cast and schedule tribe, better local

planning and leadership development. But the challenges with local governance have been inadequate financial

resources, weak administrative capacity, political interference, partial devolution of power and of course low

awareness among citizens. However, recent initiatives in India which have added value to local governments are the

Egaraj portal, the Swamita scheme of property rights, social audit mechanisms and of course we even have digital

panchiats. Now let's first look at the constitutional status and framework. So initially local government was only

mentioned as a directive principle under article 40 which urged the states to organize village panchiats.

Now it became a mandatory constitutional obligation through two landmark amendments. the 73rd amendment act of

1992 which was added part 9 the punchiats and the 11th schedule to the constitution and the 74th amendment act

of 1992 added in part 9a the municipalities and the 12th schedule. Now in the seventh schedule, local

government remains a state subject entry five of list two meaning that the state legislatures

have the power to enact laws regarding their structure and functions. Let's look at rural local governance or

panchiati raj. Now the constitution mandates a three tire structure in every state except those with a population

under 20 lakhs. First is the Graham panchiat village level which is directly elected. The gram panchiat is this

primary executive body of village self-government and it is the lowest level of the three tier punchiat system.

It is directly accountable to the gram sabha which consists of all the registered voters in the village.

Now this gram punchayat is composed of elected representatives who serve a five-year term. The president the sar

punch who's the head of the punchayat elected directly by the villagers or indirectly by the punches depending on

state law. the punches who are the ward members. Now the village is divided into wards and each ward elects a punch or a

representative directly. Then we also have the panchayat secretary who's a non-elected official appointed by the

state government to oversee administrative activities, maintain records and call meetings.

Next we have the panchayat samiti. The panchayat samiti is the intermediate or the middle tire of the panchiati raj

system in India. It operates at the block the teasil or the taloka level and it serves as the

vital link between the village level gram panchiad and the district level zilla parad.

The structure of a panchayati samiti varies slightly by state by state but it generally includes the following. First

of course the directly elected members that is the people who are chosen through direct elections from the

territorial constituencies within the block. Then it has the exofficial members that is all the serpentes or the

heads of the grand panchiats within the block. Then it also includes the legislatures that is the members of the

parliament the MPs and the members of the legislative assembly the MLAs who are representing that block.

Now it also has a leadership. The members elect a chairperson who's often called a pradhan or a sabhaati and a

vice chairperson from amongst themselves. And then you also have the

administrative head who's the bo, the block development officer who acts as the executive officer and is appointed

by the state government. Now this punch summiti acts as a coordinating and a supervisory body. It

does planning. It collects development plans from all graanchiats in its jurisdiction and it consolidates them

into a unified block plan. It does execution. It implements specific schemes related to agriculture, social

forestry, primary health care and rural water supply. It does supervision. It examines the budgets of the grand

panchchiats and it supervises their overall functioning. It does resource allocation. That means

that it distributes the funds and the grants received from the zilaparishad or the state government to the respective

gram panchiats. Now while commonly called the panchiat summiti it is also known by different

names across India like the mandal parishad in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the Taluca panchiat in

Gujarat, the Anchelik panchiat in Assam or even known as the Chetra panchiat in Uttar Pradesh.

Then you have the Zilla Parisad. The zilla parishad or the district council is the highest tier of the panchiat

system in India operating at the district level. Now it serves as a bridge between the state government and

the lower tier local bodies the grand panchayats and the panchiat summitis ensuring that rural development is

coordinated across the entire district. This Zilla Parishad is a body corporate with a fixed fiveyear term. Its members

include one the directly elected members that is the representatives elected from territorial constituencies within the

district typically 50 to 75 members depending on population. Number two, it comprises of exofficial members that is

all chairpersons of the panchayat summites at the block level in the district.

Number three, it comprises of legislative representatives that is the local MPs or the members of parliament

and MLA is a members of legislative assembly whose constituencies fall within the district.

Then its leadership is an elected president the adhyaka and it also has a vice president. The administrative head

of the zilaparish is the CEO a chief executive officer who's usually an is officer or a senior state official who

heads the administrative wing. Now this zilla parishad acts primarily as a coordinating supervisory and

advisory body. It has various functions. It takes care of district planning. It consolidates

the plans that are prepared by the Panchiati summitis to create a unified strict development plan. Supervision. It

oversees the activities of the Graham Panchiats and the Panchiati summites and in some states even scrutinizes their

budgets. Developmental work. It implements schemes related to minor irrigation, social forestry, primary

health and vocational education. Financial management. It distributes funds and grants from the state and

central government to the lower tier punchiats. It even has an advisory role. It advises

the state government on all development needs and matters that are related to the district's rural population.

Now let's look at urban local governance or the municipalities. The 74th amendment provides for three

types of urban bodies based on population size. Nagar panchiats for transitional areas

rural to urban. Municipal council for smaller urban areas. Right? Then we have the municipal corporation for larger

urban areas for example the metros. Now the functions of this are in the 12th schedule. It contains 18 functional

items including urban planning, water supply and public health. The key features of local governance

duration. It has a fixed 5-year term. Elections must be held within 6 months if dissolved early. Reservation

mandatory onethird reservation for women seats for schedule cast and schedule tribe in proportion to population

elections which are conducted by an independent state election commission the SEC

finance the SFC or the state finance commissions are set up every five years to review the financial position

planning the DPC C or the district planning committees. They consolidate the plans from both rural and urban

bodies. And then you also have what we call the special provisions or the PESA act. Now the panchiat's extension to

scheduled areas or the pesa act of 1996 extends part nine to scheduled areas which are the tribal areas with

modifications to protect customary laws and traditional management of resources. Now recently if you see in 2025 2026

there have been a lot of updates here. There are elections to local governance. Several states including Maharashtra and

Arunachal Pradesh have recently held or scheduled the Zilla Parishad elections to ensure continuous democratic

governance at the grassroots level. We have had digital integration. Many zilla parishads such as those in the state of

Karnataka have moved towards digital platforms like Mahiti Kanaja for transparent service delivery and

grievance registration. [music]