Empowering People: Grassroot Organisations and Rural Development

Right since the time India became independent, there have been efforts to bring the people closer to administration at various levels. An impetus was given to these efforts in the mid-eighties when a call was given to empower the institutions and governance at grassroots level. The culmination to these efforts was achieved in the form of 73 Amendment Act to the constitution. The present work seeks to assess the efficacy of these endeavours and the stages of development and evolution of these institutions broadly known as Panchayati Raj bodies. The book probes the reality and achievements behind this process of administrative decentralisation and grassroots empowerment mainly in the rural and local bodies. The aim of this study is to chart the role of these institutions towards achieving cherished goal of good governance.