Local Self Governance Study Notes- Introduction

I studied this subject from Dr. I.P. Massey in my IX Semester. He taught us brilliantly and created an urge inside me to understand this grass root level of democracy. While studying, I made these short notes. These notes are no match to what Massey Sir taught me. But these notes are sufficient to gather a basic understanding about the system of Local Self Governance in India. 

Panchayati Raj Institution- Hyderabad

The exact constitutional term is Local Government and not self-government.

We also refer it to as democratic decentralization of the governance. India is the 5^th country in the world where the local self-governments have been accorded the constitutional status. Germany, Japan, Brazil and Nigeria are the other ones.

To say that this local self-government has constitutional status, in one sense it is true. True in the sense, in 1992 73^rd and 74^th Amendment were passed. They laid down the fundamentals of the local self-government. But these constitutional provisions are not self-executing and just enabling provisions. All states have passed Panchayati Raj Institution Acts.

States have wide powers in this regard. They can even suspend the system. So, it is not exactly self-government. UN also suggested that

Four Tiers

1.      UN

2.      National Governments

3.      State Governments

4.      Local Governments

a.       Rural Local Governments

b.      Urban Local Governments

c.       Union Territories