Rural Local Government System in Bangladesh: Historical Development and Current Realities

Local government is a vital part of central government. It is created under law for managing local affairs. It plays a crucial role in consolidating the democracy at the sub-national and grassroots level. This paper aims to explore the historical background of rural local government system in Bangladesh and to provide a better understanding of current realities of this system. Rural local government was always there in Bengal but its forms differed from age to age. The history of rural local government system in Bangladesh is in many ways similar to that of India and Pakistan. After the independence of Bangladesh, a number of attempts have been made by different political leaderships to make reforms in the rural local government system. But the main intention behind most of the reforms was not to strengthen rural local government institutions but to strengthen political base of political party in the local area. As a result, a strong and efficient rural local government system has not yet been established in Bangladesh.