This book explores the process by which the 73 constitutional amendment is being implemented. Many, including those who supported this amendment, did not realise the implications of a shift from one system of governance to another. India has had a two-tier system, consisting of the union and state governments, and the relations between them have always remained critical. One may recall the major debate in the 1980s on centre-state relations, and the Sarkaria Commission report on this subject. While local governments have existed in India before, both in urban areas as municipalities and in rural areas as Panchayats, they were subordinate to the State Governments. Often the public representatives in these bodies were superseded, as the civil servants were entrusted with the powers in their place. The situation has now changed with constitutional status being given to local self-governments, even if it was the state government that was to decide on the manner of devolution. India is on the way to becoming a country governed at multiple levels—the union, the state, and the local self-governments—Panchayats or municipalities. Each state has its own trajectory to this goal. The book explores the manner in which this change is taking place in the Indian states today. It can provide scholars and practitioners several insights on how to further improve the status of local self-governments.
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