Local Bodies in India (Local Self-Governments) - Part 2

History of Local Bodies (Continued)

1688- First municipal corporation, Madras was started
1726- Municipal corporations at Bombay and Calcutta.
1870- Lord Mayo's resolution, he introduced financial decentralization and proposed to increase local governments.
1882- Lord Ripon's resolution, he is called as the father of the local governments. he took steps to establish elected local governments.
1907- Royal Commission for decentralization, and it was lead by Hobhouse. It proposed to establish Village level Panchayats
1919-1935- The Government of India Act gave more importance to local governments

Shantiniketan experiment was done by Rabindranath Tagore
Sewa Gram was started by Mahatma Gandhi
Marthandam experiment was done by Spencer hatch.
Firka Development program by Madras state government
Etawah experiment was done by Albert Mayor
Neelokheri experiment was done by S.K.Dey
Grow More Food programme-1942
Community Development Programme (CDP)-1952
- 55 Projects
- 16500 villages
- 11crore People
National Extension Service Programme-1953
- Less funds were there in this programme.
Because of the less successful of the above mentioned two plans, the Indian government appointed Balwant Rai Mehta Committee in 1957 and this committee proposed to establish a three-tier Panchayat Raj System.

1959- The first state which established a Panchayati Raj System is Rajasthan.
The first union territory which established a Panchayati Raj System is Delhi.
The first South Indian state which established a Panchayati Raj System is Andhra Pradesh.