Why local government: democracy at the grassroots

Detail

1. What local self-government means

• Local self-government means that local bodies elected by the people run local affairs. Decisions are taken close to the people who must live with them.
• The core claim (Class 11, Local Governments): democracy needs elected government at the local level too, not only at the Centre and in the states.
• Local government is the level closest to the citizen.
• Here people take part in decisions about their own lives.

• Here they can also hold power to account.

• Constitutional root: the original Constitution put village panchayats only in the Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV). DPSPs are goals for the government that courts cannot enforce.

• Article 40 says the State shall organise village panchayats. It must give them the powers they need to work as units of self-government [2].
• Article 40 was not in the Draft Constitution of 1948. It was added as an amendment, moved on 22 November 1948, and nobody opposed it [2].
• Because a DPSP could not be enforced, panchayats stayed weak for decades. The 73rd Amendment (1992, in force 24 April 1993) later made them constitutional bodies under Part IX.

2. Reason one: participation (the Geeta Rathore story)

• Who: Geeta Rathore, sarpanch (elected head) of Jamonia Talab gram panchayat, Sehore district, Madhya Pradesh.
• How she rose:
• 1995: she was elected from a reserved seat (a seat kept for women or for SC/ST candidates).
• 2000: she was re-elected from an unreserved (general) seat.

• Lesson: reservation gives someone a first chance. Good work then earns them votes in open competition.

• Her record:

• water tanks
• a school building
• roads
• action against domestic violence

• afforestation (planting trees)

• The point: local bodies bring ordinary people, including women and weaker sections, into real decision-making.

3. Reason two: accountability (the Vengaivasal case)

• What happened:
• 1997: Vengaivasal gram panchayat, Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu, refused to endorse a state government order.

• The order gave village land to 71 government employees.

• In court:

• A single judge of the Madras High Court first ruled against the panchayat.
• The Division Bench (a bench of two or more judges) reversed that ruling.

• It held that the state's order went against the constitutional status of the panchayat.

• Lesson: after the 73rd Amendment, a panchayat is a constitutional body. Even the state government cannot simply overrule it on local matters.

4. The principle of subsidiarity

• Subsidiarity: any task that can be done at the local level should be left to local people and local bodies.
• Why: local people know local problems best, and they care most about how they are solved.
• Higher levels (state, Union) should handle only what local bodies cannot do.

5. The Lakshmanpur problem: why villages need their own government

• The village (Class 6): Lakshmanpur has 200 houses and about 700 people. It lies in the Himalayan foothills.
• Its everyday problems:
• water for the fields
• roads damaged by rain
• the primary school

• land disputes and crop theft

• The point: villagers cannot run to the state or national capital for each problem. They need a government in the village itself.

• Panchayati raj: the system of rural local self-government. It works in two ways:
• Direct participation through the gram sabha: all adults on the village's electoral roll meet to discuss and approve plans.

• Elected representatives at three tiers: gram panchayat (village), panchayat samiti (block) and zila parishad (district) (Fig. 11.1).

• Scale:

• Villages: about 6 lakh.

• Rural population: nearly two-thirds of India's 1.4 billion people (NCERT Class 6).

• Class 9 link: Democracy lists "rural and urban local bodies" among the institutions of decentralisation. Their value is people's participation at the grassroots. The chapter places them inside a Union–state–local framework.

6. Testing real decentralisation: three forms

Form	What is transferred	Who holds the power	Is it real self-government?
Deconcentration	Only office work and staff are moved to field offices (e.g. a block office)	Officials who still answer to the higher government	No
Delegation	Some tasks are handed down, but the higher government can take them back	The higher government keeps control	Partly
Devolution	Real powers, funds and staff go to elected local bodies	The local people, through their elected body	Yes. This is the aim of Part IX.

• Article 243G (powers of panchayats): the state legislature may make a law giving panchayats the powers they need to work as institutions of self-government [3].
• That law may hand powers and duties to panchayats at the right level [3].

• The word is "may", not "shall". So how much power panchayats actually get depends on each state.

• Eleventh Schedule: it lists 29 subjects. For these, states may devolve functions, finances and functionaries (the "3 Fs") to panchayats [6].

• The power to transfer these powers and funds lies with the state governments [6].

• Measuring devolution: the Ministry of Panchayati Raj measures how much power states have really handed down.

• Report: Status of Devolution to Panchayats in States – An Indicative Evidence-Based Ranking, 2024, released in February 2025 [5].
• Who prepared it: the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), using a study for 2023-24 [5].
• Six dimensions: Framework, Functions, Finances, Functionaries, Capacity Enhancement and Accountability [5].
• Top ten states (score above 55): Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Tripura, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh [5].
• Leaders by dimension: Kerala (Framework), Tamil Nadu (Functions), Karnataka (Finances and Accountability), Gujarat (Functionaries), Telangana (Capacity Enhancement) [5].

7. Class 11 exercises 7 and 8: what counts as real local democracy

• Exercise 7 asks you to rank four reasons for local government: 1. Lower cost: the government spends less. 2. Greater acceptability: people accept decisions they helped to make. 3. Local knowledge and collective decision: people who know the problem decide together. 4. Access: citizens can reach their representatives easily.

• Exam angle: local knowledge and collective decision fits subsidiarity most closely. It is the strongest democratic reason. Lower cost is a reason of efficiency, not of democracy.

• Exercise 8 separates two situations:

• Real decentralisation: villagers decide their own programmes in the gram sabha. This is devolution.
• Not real decentralisation: the panchayat only receives a progress report from the BDO (Block Development Officer, a state official). Officials decide and the panchayat just listens. This is at most deconcentration.

8. Local government is a State subject

• Entry 5, List II (State List), Seventh Schedule: "Local government, that is to say, the constitution and powers of municipal corporations, improvement trusts, district boards, mining settlement authorities and other local authorities for the purpose of local self-government or village administration" [4].
• What this means:
• Only state legislatures make panchayat laws. Examples are each state's Panchayati Raj Act.

• These laws must still follow the minimum framework of Part IX. A state cannot go below what Part IX requires.

• Third tier of federalism: Part IX added a constitutionally recognised local tier below the Union and the states. For the federal link, see federalism-centre-state.

Prelims Hooks

• Article 40 (a DPSP in Part IV): the State shall organise village panchayats as units of self-government. It was not in the 1948 Draft Constitution and was added on 22 November 1948 [2].
• Local government is in the State List (Entry 5, List II), not the Concurrent List. The trap option is "Concurrent List" [4].
• Article 243G uses "may": state legislatures may give powers to panchayats. So devolution depends on each state [3].
• Eleventh Schedule has 29 subjects for panchayats. It was added by the 73rd Amendment. Do not confuse it with the Twelfth Schedule (18 subjects for municipalities, 74th Amendment) [6].
• Devolution Index 2024 (released February 2025, prepared by IIPA) has six dimensions. Karnataka ranked first overall [5].
• Geeta Rathore (Jamonia Talab, Sehore, MP): elected from a reserved seat in 1995 and re-elected from an unreserved seat in 2000. This is NCERT's example of participation.
• Vengaivasal GP (Kancheepuram, TN, 1997): the Madras High Court Division Bench upheld the panchayat's constitutional status against the land allotment to 71 employees. This is NCERT's example of accountability.
• Devolution = power goes to elected bodies. Deconcentration = only offices and staff are moved to the field. Delegation = tasks are handed down but can be taken back.

Mains Points

• Why local government deepens democracy (GS-II):
• It brings in participation (Geeta Rathore) and accountability (Vengaivasal).
• It applies subsidiarity: local people decide local matters.

• It turns citizens from voters every five years into everyday decision-makers through the gram sabha.

• The "may" problem: Article 243G and Entry 5 of the State List leave devolution to state will [3][4].

• Result: devolution is very uneven. States like Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu lead the 2024 Devolution Index while others lag [5].

• Reform: fix timelines for transferring the 3 Fs, and tie grants to devolution scores.

• Formal vs real decentralisation: panchayats that only receive BDO reports show deconcentration, not devolution.

• What is needed: untied funds, staff answerable to panchayats, and gram sabhas that actually plan.

• Third tier of federalism: Part IX gives local bodies constitutional status. But their dependence on states for funds and staff makes them a weak third tier.

• Use in answers: link this to the wider centre–state debate on fiscal federalism.