Navdeep Kaur & Bhanu Pratap Singh, Asian Law College
ABSTRACT
The third tier of federalism i.e. local government was not alien to India and was in vogue during Vedic times. Historically speaking, Panchayats were functioning since time immemorial though the local governments in present shape had their origin during the British period. the first draft of Indian Constitution had no provision for Panchayats. When Gandhi ji came to know that proposed Constitution had not provided for panchayats he opposed it. However, Ambedkar was strong position against village ‘what is village but a sink of localism, a den of Ignorance, narrow-mindedness’. Panchayats were finally included in the Constitution of India, but only as aspect of Directive Principle of State Policy. This left little obligation on the State government to establish and empower panchayats. No State Government took the Initiative to bring appropriate legislation to implement Article 40 of the Constitution. Third tier has created a new awakening in the village. It was found that youngster and better leadership was emerging through the panchayats, and these local bodies were created new seats of power to be filled by democratic election. The panchayats were enabling a large number of people to acquire leadership skills at the local level and were conferring power on people’s representatives. In spite of the fact that the 74th Amendment visualises the ‘people’s participation’ as one of the main objectives, the people’s actual participation in the municipal affairs of the city is still limited
