Local Bodies in India (Local Self-Governments) - Part 3

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

History of Local Bodies (Continued)

3. British Period

• In 1688, the first municipal corporation, Madras was started

• In 1726, Municipal corporations at Bombay and Calcutta were started.

• In 1870, Lord Mayo's resolution,he introduced financial decentralization and proposed to increase local governments.

• In 1882- Lord Ripon's resolution, he is called as the father of the local governments. he took steps to establish elected local governments.

• In 1907- Royal Commission for decentralization, and it was lead by Hobhouse. It proposed to establish Village level Panchayats

• In 1919-1935- The Government of India Act gave more importance to local governments.

• According to the charter act of 1813, the power of taxation was given to local governments.

• In 1872, Warren Hastings introduced collector system.

• In 1907, Hobhouse lead Royal Commission recommended two things.

  1. Local government representitives should directly elected by people.
  2. Primary education management responsibility should given to local governements.

• Minto-Morley reforms, 1909.
  The council act, 1909 mentions that, representatives of local governments should be directly elected by the people.

• Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms, 1919.
  The local governments are included in the transferred list in the state list.

• Government of India Act, 1935
  The local governments are included in the state list.

4.Independence Movement Period

• 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.

5.After Independence

• In 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.

Vedic Period

• During the Vedic period, there were two bodies, Sabha, and Samithi. These bodies were responsible for local governance.
• In that period, the president of the sabha was called Rajan.

Other Key Points

• The 7th schedule of Indian constitution explains about the distribution of power between centre and states. The lists are:
  • Union List (98 items)
  • State List (59 items)
  • Concurrent List (52 items)
• Currently, Panchayats have power over 29 items, while Urban local bodies control 18 items.
• Two types of courts:
  • Dharmastiya (deals with civil cases)
  • Kantaka Shodhana(deals with criminal cases)
• Chandragupta Maurya's time Megasthenes in his book Indica mentions about the administration in Patliputra.
• Kamandhakudu in his book Neethisaram also mentions about local governments.
• Local governments are called the government within the government or Imperia in Imperium.