Panchayati Raj System after the Constitution (Seventy-Third) Amendment Act, 1992: Problems and Possibilities

The Panchayati Raj system covers the village, the tehsil and the district, and the Nagar Palika system serves towns and cities. If democracy means people's participation in running their affairs, then it is nowhere more direct, clear and significant than at the local level, where the contact between the people and their representatives, between the rulers and the ruled is more constant, vigilant and manageable. Decentralisation is a prime mechanism through which democracy becomes truly representative and responsive. The democratic ideals of decentralisation, development, and increased continuous and active popular participation in the process of nation building can be secured only through the working of an efficient system of local government. Without a well organised system of local government, no democratic political system can be expected to become stable and really developed. This article focuses on the problems and possibilities of the Panchayati Raj system after enactment of Constitution (Seventy-Third) Amendment Act.