Local Self Government and Paths of Rural Development

‘People are the real wealth or riches of a nation. A nation that facilitates for the maximum number of people who are happy, is the richest nation ever’, quotes Mahatma Gandhi. With India being one of the largest democracies of the world, the process of nation building, with such parameters of richness is indeed challenging. Decentralization of power is one of the ways that India chose to face such a challenge efficiently and effectively since independence. The essence of such decentralization of power in India is the ‘Local Self Government or the Panchayat Raj System (PRS)’. In the history of PRS, April 24^th, 1993 can be considered a remarkable day. The 73^rd Amendment of the Constitution was implemented on this day, introducing three tier PRS to give constitutional status to Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs). This article sheds administrative techniques in the process of nation building and development works.