Governance at Grassroots Level in India

Decentralised governance at the grassroots level is the most viable and suitable mechanism of realizing the desired goals of a parliamentary democracy. That is why the local bodies have been constitutionalised through the historical enactment of the 73rd and 74th amendments and, thus, a third tier of federal polity has emerged. A revolutionary change in the socio-cultural and political scenario of the Indian society is conceived through the empowerment of women and reservation of the weaker sections. However, even after a decade of the constitutional status of the local bodies their working suffers from many flaws like lack of political will, inadequate well trained and dedicated staff at the local level. But even then the democracy at the grassroots level has become a crucial area of debate and discussions in both academic and administrative circles and the present work is an outcome of such debate. The emphasis is on issues and areas pertaining to the actual working of the local bodies at the grassroots level. Thus, this book brings together a number of research papers on the working of local bodies in the wake of the 73rd and 74th Amendments.