Previous Year Question

Local self-government is regarded as an exercise in democratic decentralisation. It involves the transfer of governmental powers, responsibilities and resources from the Union or State level to elected local bodies. This enables local people to participate in decisions and plans concerning their own areas.

Panchayats in rural areas and Municipalities in urban areas are institutions of local self-government in India. Parts IX and IX-A of the Constitution contain provisions concerning their constitution, elections, reservation, tenure, finances and other institutional arrangements. The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments gave them constitutional status.

Democratic decentralisation has three principal dimensions—the transfer of functions, the financial resources required to perform those functions and the personnel responsible for implementation. These are commonly described as Functions, Funds and Functionaries. Merely assigning functions does not constitute meaningful decentralisation; local bodies must also possess the required financial and administrative capacity.

Federalism principally concerns the constitutional distribution of powers between the Union and the States. Panchayats and Municipalities are often described as the third tier of government, but local self-government is more accurately characterised by democratic decentralisation than by federalism.

Under administrative delegation, a superior authority transfers certain functions to a subordinate body but retains ultimate control. Local self-government, in contrast, gives elected local institutions a legally and constitutionally recognised role in taking their own decisions.

It is also not entirely an exercise in direct democracy, because most decisions of local bodies are taken by elected representatives. Although the Gram Sabha contains certain elements of direct democracy, the entire system of local self-government cannot be characterised as direct democracy.