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LOCAL GOVERNANCE: 73RD & 74TH AMENDMENT ACTS Local governance can be defined as a process of governing at the cutting edge level involving a huge constellation of agencies including conventional government, non-governmental sectors, civil society organisation, and so on. Decision mak...

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LOCAL GOVERNANCE: 73RD & 74TH AMENDMENT ACTS Local governance can be defined as a process of governing at the cutting edge level involving a huge constellation of agencies including conventional government, non-governmental sectors, civil society organisation, and so on. Decision making process becomes a collaborative effort with multiple agencies involved as joint stakeholders. Structurally, it places maximum emphasis on decentralising authority to local bodies, flattening of hierarchies, slimming of bureaucracy etc. It also aims to bring about a number of procedural changes as well as an attitudinal shift in the perception of local governments vis-a-vis citizens. The traditional perception of citizens as passive beneficiaries has been redefined as “active customers”. LOCAL GOVERNANCE IN INDIA: A BRIEF HISTORY India’s journey to local governance has had a chequered history. There is no denying that we had the oldest tradition of local governance since ancient times. The uniqueness of these bodies was their absolutely spontaneous development with no uniform pattern or intrusion of external authorities. Although during the colonial rule, efforts were made to bring about decentralised, local selfgovernments, what took shape was a hierarchical administrative structure based on supervision and control. The underlying objective was solely to serve the interests of the empire. Despite repeated advocacy of Mahatma Gandhi for gram Swaraj, who considered villages as the heart of Indian society, decentralisation remained a far cry. This was also fuelled by heated opposition of Ambedkar to this idea, whose experience was rooted in caste-based oppression in rural India and who considered villages as regressive units. He instead, believed in constitutional parliamentary democracy. A compromise was forged and the first major headway in institutionalising Panchayats came in 1957, with the recommendations of the BALWANT RAI MEHTA COMMITTEE. Originally set up to assess community development initiatives, the committee put forth certain recommendations: 1) The necessity of strengthening Panchayats for institutionalising community participation; 2) A three tier system of rural government- village panchayats, panchayati samite and the zilla parishads.

However, owing to embedded elitist apathy, domination of rural elites, lack of political and bureaucratic will as well as absence of grassroots political leaders, it failed to rejuvenate Panchayats as units of local self-governance. Another committee which deserves special mention in the evolution of rural local government in India, is the ASHOK MEHTA COMMITTEE, set up in 1978 to inquire into the working of PRIs and to suggest certain measures to strengthen them. It underscored the necessity of decentralisation and recommended that the district should be the basic unit of governance. Even it failed to bring about any substantive change. Several committees from there on, the G.V.K. RAO COMMITTEE, the L.M. SINGHVI COMMITTEE, emphasising on importance of decentralisation and gram sabhas respectively, came about. The 64 th Amendment bill was also introduced to give constitutional sanction to PRIs, but it was defeated. It is only with the advent of the 73 rd Amendment Act, that PRIs in India gained constitutional legitimacy. THE 73RD AMENDMENT Considered to be a watershed in India, the 73 rd amendment act, 1992, operationalised in 1993, heralded a three tier PRI in India across the country. It came to rectify the following deficiencies in the already existed system of rural governance in India: 1) PR bodies were not envisaged as self-sufficient bodies; 2) They were confronted with irregular elections breeding decline in accountability; 3) Vague, unclear and insufficient delegation of powers by the state to the local bodies; 4) Reduction of local bodies to mere dumping grounds for discarded officials; 5) Bureaucratic resistance to share power, resources and status; 6) Inadequate devolution of financial autonomy; 7) Domination of rural elites, siphoning off funds meant for rural development 8) Unsatisfactory functioning of Gram Sabhas characterised by absenteeism, irregular and proxy meetings, lack of rules and organisation and prevalence of caste-based politics. Whatever be the motive behind the act, it did change the very contour of local governance at the rural level. Some redeeming features of the act are as follows:  Heralded a three-tier PRI, with Zilla Parishad at the top, Panchayati Samitis at the intermediate level and Panchayats at the bottom;

 Clear devolution of power, authority and responsibilities to rural local bodies to enable them to function as institutions of government;  Mandatory conduction of direct elections every 5 years to all levels of PRIs with the provision that in case of a premature dismissal of a government fresh elections will be held within 6 months, with the newly elected members serving for the remainder of the 5 year term;  Provisions for reservation of seats for all SCs and STs at all levels of Panchayats in proportion to their population in the Panchayats concerned;  Mandatory reservation of 1/3rd seats for women at all levels of the Panchayats, of which 1/3rd to be reserved for women belonging to SCs and STs.  The constitutional provision for reservation of seats to SCs, STs and women also extends to position of Panchayati Chairpersons at all the three tiers;  Stipulated the constitution of a State level Election Commission for a period of 5 years to ensure free and fair elections in local bodies;  Empowered the state government to create another independent state commission i.e. the Financial Commission, for a 5 year review of the overall financial position of local bodies;  Provisions for the constitution of the Gram Sabha, the rationale being reinforcing it as the fulcrum of developmental process.  Finally, a separate schedule i.e. the 11 th schedule has also been added (article 243 G) which gives a list of 29 functions to be performed by PRIs. LIMITATIONS Despite much accolade and fanfare, PRIs have failed to bring about the muchneeded transformation in India’s society and polity. Several shortcomings have surfaced within a decade of its functioning:  The PRIs have been suffering from an identity crisis as the meaning of self-governance has not been clearly articulated.  They have also inherited a culture of subservience which flouts the full realisation of decentralisation in post-independent India.  Furthermore, state governments continue to exert their power and control over everything through a number of ways. Legally, they are still responsible for planning for socio-economic development,

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implementation of schemes, imposition of taxes, method of elections and conferring powers to the Panchayats. They have the discretion to decide the issues under PRIs jurisdictions. They constantly exercise control by issuing threats of dismissal or removal to local bodies. Financial autonomy has not been fully transferred to local bodies. Panchayats have to depend on grants-in-aid from the state governments. The state finance commission’s recommendations are not mandatory in nature. The 29 subjects mentioned in the 11 th schedule do not give power to legislate to the local bodies, but only to take decisions. Panchayat administration also often becomes an extension of party administration breeding confusion and chaos. Their avowed stand on women empowerment has not bred any substantive changes. In fact, the phenomenon of proxy participation, where male heads wield power on women’s behalf, has gained momentum.

74TH AMENDMENT- URBAN LOCAL ADMINISTRATION The 74th amendment act, 1992, ushered in a new phase of urban governance in India. However, it has a striking similarity with the 73rd amendment act. Major provisions are as follows:  Urban local bodies, to be known as Municipal Corporation, Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayat depending on the population, shall be constituted through Universal Adult Franchise across the country;  These shall be constituted for a period of 5 years;  Not less than 1/3rd of the total seats will be reserved for women in each urban local body;  These bodies shall be endowed with power and authority to formulate and implement schemes for economic development and social justice on 18 subjects;  They shall be authorised to collect, impose and appropriate specific taxes, duties and tolls;  Each state shall constitute an independent finance commission which shall review the financial position of urban local bodies  The superintendence, direction and control and conduct of elections to all urban local bodies shall vest in the state election commissions;

 Act has made provision for the constitution of Ward committees in all municipalities with a population of 3 lakhs and more;  District planning committee and Metropolitan planning committee shall be constituted to prepare a development plan. LIMITATIONS The 74th amendment has surely revived the urban local bodies of India, but they still face a number of problems:  The most serious problem that these bodies face is the acute scarcity of finance. The recommendations of the independent state financial commission are not binding, stripping them of any real fiscal autonomy.  People’s participation in urban local bodies is still negligible.  Moreover, like the 11 th schedule, there is no clear demarcation of functions between different local units of the urban local government, which has given states the liberty to impose their own choices on them.  Nirmal Mukherjee argues that it is a mere copy of the 73 rd amendment and a ‘hasty afterthought’.  State governments have also been accused of creating parallel or parastatal institutions, which breeds more confusion with regard to functions and authority. This has often been deemed as the “sovereignty trap”. THE POSITIVE IMPLICATIONS OF 73RD & 74TH AMENDMENT ACTS Despite several fallacies, the acts are phenomenal in many respects and have furthered the idea of decentralisation in India. i.

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The first implication is the conferment of constitutional status on local government, paving way for a direct linkage between governance process and the community per se. The acts have provided much-needed administrative autonomy in terms of functional devolution to both urban and rural local bodies. Financial autonomy is the sine-qua-non of any organisation. The acts have salvaged cash-strapped local bodies with substantial financial autonomy. The creation of separate financial commissions to review their financial conditions is also a major step in this direction. They have also bred transparency in governance. These articles have mentioned the provisions for the mandatory audit of accounts of panchayats and municipalities respectively. They have increased accountability in governance, by assigning powers and functions to solve problems at the grassroots.

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No doubt they have led to a deepening of democracy. Panchayats and ward committees especially have paved way for greater penetration of democracy by creating new opportunity spaces for citizens to compete for social resources. Gender empowerment, though not comprehensive in its reach, still has been formally addressed by these acts. It has institutionalised women participation via reservation of seats at the local bodies. Social justice has also been institutionalised via empowerment of the least advantaged. These acts have led to inclusive development. They have also institutionalised popular participation by bridging the gap between governments and citizens and encouraging greater interaction. Finally, they have materialised decentralised planning into ground realities. Planning is longer couched as a highly technical job to be done by seasoned mandarins. A bottom-up approach is being favoured instead of the conventional top-down model. People are now increasingly being couched as the stakeholders of development....