Implementation

Implementation. All states have passed laws to implement the 73rd and 74th Amendments, and most held at least two rounds of local elections in the first decade (1994-2004); some held three.

• Today there are more than 600 Zilla Panchayats, about 6,000 block panchayats and 2,40,000 Gram Panchayats, plus over 100 city corporations, 1,400 town municipalities and 2,000 Nagar Panchayats. More than 32 lakh members are elected every five years, at least 13 lakh of them women, compared with fewer than 5,000 MLAs and MPs together.
• The amendments created uniform structures and a platform for people's participation.

Women and disadvantaged groups:

• Reservation, including for chairperson posts, has brought many women into local bodies: at least 200 women Zilla Panchayat Adhyakshas, 2,000 block presidents, 80,000 Sarpanches, and many women mayors and municipal heads. Women have gained power and confidence, a better understanding of politics, and brought new perspectives and greater sensitivity to discussions. Some were at first proxies for male relatives, but such cases are becoming fewer.
• With SC and ST reservations (and OBC reservations in most states), about 6.6 lakh elected members come from SCs and STs, changing the social profile of local bodies. This sometimes causes tension, as formerly dominant groups resist giving up power; but such tension is part of making democracy more meaningful.

Limits:

• Limited autonomy: many states have not transferred most of the 29 subjects, so local bodies cannot function effectively and electing so many representatives becomes somewhat symbolic. People locally have little power to choose programmes or allocate resources.
• Little money of their own: rural local bodies raise only about 0.24 per cent of total revenue but account for about 4 per cent of government spending, so they depend on grants from the state and Centre, which erodes their capacity.
• So local governments often act as agencies implementing central and state schemes.

A comparison. Bolivia's Popular Participation Law (1994) decentralised power to 314 elected municipal governments, which build and maintain local health and education facilities; 20 per cent of national tax collections are shared among municipalities per head, and they may levy some local taxes.

Conclusion. Democracy means decentralisation and sharing power with the people, who should decide the policies and programmes they want. The laws on local government are an important step, but the true test of democracy lies in practice, not just legal provisions.

Example (new): a Gram Panchayat that is allowed to decide only where to paint a scheme's signboard, while the state decides the scheme, its budget and its contractors, has elections but little real self-government.